Plague of Ancients
by rprime422
Summary: With an original cast of characters, an ancient calamity returns to the world of Monster Hunter. Corruption within the hunting guild complicates our heroes' efforts to save us.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Kaeorin trudged back to the guild hall. He walked with his palicoes in silence, the hunt still fresh in his mind. His thoughts grew heavier, and more dark, with every step he took. "There is no way," he thought to himself, "no way this was a mistake." The guild registrar offered him a contract to hunt a rathian wyvern, a dangerous mark with the best of luck, but what he found was no such creature. The creature he did find existed in no bestiary. Words would be had with the guild this day. Only by pure luck were Kaeorin and his companions able to return home alive. He wanted to smash open the doors, pin the guild manager to a wall with a flurry of arrows, and demand some answers.

The guild was too powerful, however, for any such aggression to go unanswered. Guild registrars, indeed all guild staff, acted rather polite, and they even made accommodations for hunters in all but their most unreasonable requests. Kaeorin risked not only the fury of the guild, but also the ire of the people. They loved their guild marms and guild lads. Only the vilest man or woman would dare to bring them to harm. Violence in the guild hall would not be tolerated. No, more subtlety would be required, and great care.

Kaeorin sent his Palicoes on an errand before he entered, taking a table to himself and ordering food and drink. His anger still threatened to consume him, and the urge to burn the whole building danced ever at the edge of his mind. The smell of the dark ale and the smoked meat cooking in the kitchen soon soothed his anxiety and rage. He could think, and he could wait for the right moment, wait for the felynes to return from their chore.

The meat tasted of smoke and hickory, garlic and sweet sauce. Scents of smooth pipe smoke drifted across the table. Minstrels played strings at the far end. Kaeorin lit a pipe, himself, and waited. The guild sure did know how to make a great hunting hall. There could be no argument on that point. The hum of hunters and music, the clank of mugs and plates, was enough to put a raging tigrex at ease. The feline returned none too soon, as Kaeorin found himself nearly ready to sleep right in his chair.

Black Paw, named for his unusual, black foot pads, hopped onto the table. He grabbed a bone with some juicy meat still hanging on and nibbled. He finished his snack and hopped on to the chair next to him. "We're ready."

"Very good," he replied. He stood, left some zenny on the table for the fare, and the two walked outside. Employees and guild officers used a service entrance built near the kitchen. Kaeorin stopped at the door, looking to Black Paw for assurance. "You will not be stopped," he said.

Kaeorin nodded and entered to be greeted by one of the palico guards. He thought there might be a fight. His palicoes just said this was taken care of. To his shock, the cat point upwards with his long axe, towards the stairs and said, "top floor, last door on the right."

He went as directed. Just as he was told, Guild Officer Merkel sat at a desk in this room, scrawling with great focus and speed on some document before him. "Guild Officer Merkel," growled Kaeorin, "a word, please."

Merkel squeaked, "What are you doing here? No one is to be allowed up here! G-" He choked on his fear as Kaeorin rushed him, brought a knife against his neck and clamped a strong grip on his left forearm.

"I am to be allowed up here. Is that clear?"

Merkel nodded acknowledgement.

"Good. Sit back down."

"What. What are you doing? What do you want." Merkel's voice quavered.

"Why did you send me after that beast?"

"I don't know. I don't what contract that was. I don't even know you. I write and sign dozens each day, with dozens of hunters."

That was not good enough. "No. You know me, and you knew what you were doing, at least to some degree." Kaeorin was not satisfied, in the slightest. "You sent me after a rathian in the Steppe. The payout was unusually high for such a contract. I asked you why that was, and you said that the merchant was a particularly generous one, and that she often offers high rewards. I checked. That contract came from a senior guild researcher. Tell me." he applied a little more pressure to his knife edge.

"I'm sorry! I...I...I...don't make those kinds of arrangements. I just find hunters to fulfill the contracts. There must have been some mistake. I swear!"

"What are you talking about? What mistake do you mean? I haven't even told you why I am here." He let Merkel see a cruel smirk cross his face. Merkel's nervous sweat doubled, soaking his robe with visible stains. He began to move his lips in a strange way, like he was talking to himself. Kaeorin held his position, ready for anything.

Merkel grabbed the knife by the back edge, tugged it slightly to move it off his neck, re-positioned his head before spitting into Kaeorin's face. Kaeorin's eyes flared in pain. He couldn't see, and he held his knife, but he could hear a drawer being opened and closed. Merkel was grabbing something. He needed to escape fast. He tripped trying to turn for the door. The door opened, and a short, dark shape came in. It was the palico guard from downstairs. Kaeorin heard some struggle and clanging on the floor. The guard spoke.

"Come, hunter."

Kaeorin crawled towards him. The palico grabbed his face, pulled his hands away, and blew some dust into his eyes. The pain vanished. His vision cleared. Merkel lay crumpled on the floor, cradling his right wrist. A short sword lay on the floor some distance away.

"Awfully defensive for someone who doesn't know what is going on," Kaeorin said.

"I really don't! What was I supposed to do? You come in here like this, and I don't even know who you are. I thought you were going to murder me!"

"I can't believe you truly know nothing."

Merkel looked away, grumbled. "Well, I was told to give that contract to you, specifically, but I have no idea why. I really don't. So what, for a hunter like you, what's a rathian or five?"

"That was no rathian." Kaeorin said, his anger, again, rising.

The palico guard spoke, "Hunter, show him the scale of the plague beast."

Kaeorin paused. He did not trust this Merkel for any distance, even if his thin frame could be thrown a fair measure. But, he trusted palicoes. They could steal anything they liked with the stealth of a rodent, but they rarely lied. With a heavy sigh and a low growl, he reached into his pouch and withdrew the scale. "This came from the beast—the beast that is no rathian."

The scale appeared black as a starless night. Only close inspection in the brightest of daylight would describe its contours. The surface seemed to be in constant motion, as though it were alive.

Merkel stared at the scale in awe. At least this seems to be a genuine surprise for him, thought Kaeorin. Perhaps his knowledge is as limited as he says. "What? What is that?" he asked.

The palico replied, "this came from the beast that now hunts the hunters of the Steppe. It is diseased, and this hunter has taken its plague due to some fool's lie and selfishness. You will help him solve its mysteries and find a cure."

Merkel took offense. He found the energy to stand on his feet despite his throbbing hand. "I will do nothing of the sort. It's not my responsibility, for one, and, for two, it's not my fault, in the slightest, if some hunter gets himself in trouble in the field." He looked directly at the eyes of his palico guard. "Besides, he just tried to murder me. Why in the world should I help him with anything?"

The palicoe stared back. Faster than either human could track, he stole the scale from Kaeorin's hands and rushed for Merkel. He leaped to chest level, pulled open Merkel's robes, and with the scale, cut him across the chest. Merkel staggered, screamed, and fell back to the floor, now face to face with his palico.

"You will help him now," said the felyne, "because now you also have the plague."


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Kaeorin kept Merkel in front, where he could watch him. He was concerned that Merkel may give in to desperation and run to report this to another guild official. Night Wind, Merkel's guardian palico, stood between them. He had assured Kaeorin that he would keep his human within sight, if not within reach. Kaeorin was not inclined to trust him, but he did get Merkel to come along.

Merkel had been incredulous, almost hysterical. He began rambling, questioning Night Wind, his voice rising and rising. His voice grew so loud, Kaeorin had to leave the room while he and Night Wind argued. The shouting stopped, Night Wind told Kaeorin to wait, and soon after, Merkel came walking out, agreeing to travel together with shaky speech and trembling limbs. They walked the road to the mountain of village of Cathar, where Wyverian mystics held the secret to curing the plague. Night Wind swore no one else could help them.

Kaeorin thought Night Wind proposed an awfully convenient solution. Why wouldn't a palico make up a story to save his human? Black Paw assured him that Night Wind's words were not to be doubted. He was a living legend around. "Yeah, yeah," Kaeorin had said with a dismissive wave.

Black Paw slapped him on the thigh, laughing. "Don't worry, Kay. You're just irritated because a felyne took control of your life for you. When does that not happen?" He kept laughing while Kaeorin brooded.

Merkel stopped walking, turned around, and strode back to Kaeorin to stand in front of him. "I'm not walking a step further. I will not help criminals, and I don't see why I have to do anything anyway."

"Don't ask me," Kaeorin said with a sigh, "I fully intended to murder you in your study. You're talking to the wrong person." Kaeorin pointed to Night Wind. "Ask him. At the moment, he knows more than any of us."

Night Wind stared at them from beneath his scarred brow, his midnight coat gleaming in the early afternoon sun. His gaze settled next to Kaeorin, upon the eyes of Black Paw, who burrowed his felyne snout into his paws and shook his head in mock despair. "I believe you have the plague of ancients, hunter," said Night Wind. "There are…writings about this, but only the Wyverians of Cathar keep them or even understand them."

"Yes. Yes. Yes," rambled Merkel in frustration, "but why do I need to care what some foolish hunter brings back from the wild? I did not ask you to force me into this. Give me one reason I don't have you all arrested by the first caravan guard we see."

A felyne grumble came from Night Wing. "You will not betray me because your house rules dictate that you have no choice." Kaeorin noted that Merkel lowered his head at the admonishment. That might prove useful information.

"And, you are coming because you have a good position in the guild, and this is too important to be overlooked. The appearance of the plague must not remain hidden by the death of one hunter. I understand that I am the servant in this relationship, Master Merkel, but as your guardian, I cannot let you escape your responsibility. Now, no more talking on the subject until we reach Cathar."

Merkel's face reddened. He emitted some squeaks and grunts before heaving a heavy breath and resuming his trek along the road. Black Paw waddled beside Kaeorin. "I wonder why he seems a lot less worried about you."

"I don't know," said Kaeorin, "but we don't know what I have, and one of them might have an idea. Besides, Night Wind is keeping me out of jail right now, so let's go with it."

Black Paw growled softly, "Alright, but I don't like it.

"I'll take it over the beast," Kaeorin said.

Black Paw looked to the ground, thoughtfully, "Yeah. Me too."

Merkel did not speak to Kaeorin for two days, for which Kaeorin was most thankful. Night Wind fulfilled the duties of conversation on his own, and admirably at that. By the time the group took their midday meal, they had entered the foothills of the Hollow mountains. Kaeorin nurtured an increasing concern that Merkel might attempt to sneak away to Harth village, seeking refuge with the dwarven guild branch.

"You will not be saved by running to the dwarves," said Kaeorin. He had finished his meal, and was now grinding together a mixture of herbs and honey with a wooden mortar and pestle.

Merkel scoffed. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"He's not wrong," said Night Wind.

Merkel turned his head away. "I'm am tired and done with you. You are supposed to serve and protect me," his voice rose, "yet here you are aiding my kidnappers. Indeed, you even enabled them to do so when you cut me with that damned beast scale!"

"I am perfectly aware of what I have done," said Night Wind, perfectly calm. "As I have already told you—many times now—I am protecting you. I had no choice but to force you into this, as I know you would not have the done the right thing. Not this time, anyway."

Merkel scowled at Night Wind, at length, before returning to his meal. Kaeorin watched him and thought he ate like a small bird, but then, he was not a hunter. He finished grinding his compound together. With a tiny spoon, he measured the substance into several small containers, sealed them with beeswax, then slid them into slots on thin leather bandolier, over which he fastened his breast plate. He was pleased that his Lagiacrus armor finally began to lose the smell of sea fish. The smith swore it wouldn't last, but it lasted so long he thought the smith a liar and a crook, despite the excellent quality of the work. Today marked the fifth week since its creation.

He looked to Merkel. "You should finish and pack up. We really want to be in Harth before nightfall.

"I don't see the need to hurry," replied Merkel. "Hey, what were you making earlier? Not some sort of poison, I trust."

It was natural that he would ask. Most people were, in fact, obsessively curious about the ways of hunters. Mysteries surrounded their alchemical practices with which they made their salves and potions and the crafting of their armor and weapons, which many claimed possessed magical qualities and which no normal person could use without consequence. Kaeorin showed Merkel a slight sneer before answering. It wasn't in him to joke about such things, but he let himself enjoy a brief moment of spiteful mirth.

"No. It's a little something to help us out in case there is a problem."

"Problem? What kind of problem?" replied Merkel, nervous tension rising in his voice.

Kaeorin could not prevent himself from smiling, but it soon faded with a deep sigh. "This part of the Steppe is where we found and fought the beast. If it comes back, well, you will know why it is that I wanted to cut you open and leave your carcass for the monsters."

Merkel could not remain silent. "But hunting monsters is always fatally dangerous. I don't see how this could be any different."

Kaeorin strode across the camp, with deadly purpose, and raised his armored fist, visions of this man's pathetic, weak skull collapsing beneath it. The long axe of Night Wind slashed down between the two men. Kaeorin's armored fist rang against the steel of the axe, sparks exploding from the impact. He was not injured, but the pain was enough to diffuse his rage. He spat on the ground before returning to the task of breaking camp.

The men walked apart from each other. Kaeorin could not see why this group must travel together. Clearly, Night Wind knew something about what was going on. At the least, he knew how to find those who did. With no other course before him, he had to force himself to trust in that.

Kaeorin walked away to stare at the landscape. The Steppe was his favorite part of the country, especially in Autumn. The season was early yet, and the weather was still quite moderate, if not warm. Even so, the leaves had begun to turn in anticipation of Winter, and a great spectacle of color filled the land, lining the fields and foothills, the beauty was complemented by sounds of gentle streams flowing from the nearby river. The reflection of light from the afternoon sun turned the land golden, and small birds, flitting through the air, seemed more like fairies than fowl.

Kaeorin enjoyed the view for some time, but the natural enchantment of the Steppe could not last forever. He rejoined the group as they marched on toward Harth.

Merkel and Night Wind kept their distance, several paces ahead of Kaeorin and Black Paw. Kaeorin allowed it. He had every confidence he could outmaneuver and hunt Merkel down should he try to run. They walked along a narrow road, lazily hugging a rock wall as it circled down towards a field near the river. The rocks occasionally hid Merkel and NightWind from view. A small caravan, travelling in the opposite direction, appeared from behind the rock face. Kaeorin and Black Paw stepped aside as it passed by.

We might have to go hunting for Merkel, thought Kaeorin, we haven't seen him in a while. "Black Paw. Can you hear them."

"No. But I think I see something. Look." Black Paw tapped Kaeorin on his calf and pointed at a caravan cart, further away towards the front. A flash blinked on and off, coming from a small long axe.

"There they are. Let's go."

Black paw fell behind Kaeorin at full bound, causing some commotion amongst the draft animals. Merkel's head peered out from behind the canvas of the covered cart. Seeing Kaeorin, he shouted at the driver. Nearly within Kaeorin's reach, the cart lurched forward in acceleration. With a growl, he stopped, drew his bow and slapped a container of blast coating into the tube, knelt as he drew an arrow. Black Paw ran back and forth across the road, hissing, scaring the animals to hold them back while his human worked.

Kaeorin loosed his arrow. His shot struck true, but without enough blast coat to ignite and blow off a cart wheel. He drew again, determined to stop that cart. He shot true again, blowing the rear left wheel into a cloud of splinters. The corner sagged, and the cart wobbled, but it kept moving around the rocks and out of sight.

He sheathed his bow and called for Black Paw to follow him. As he began to run, the sky darkened in an instant, as though it were lit by candles which were blown out in one fell breath. Pieces of black flitted through the air like pieces of ash from a great fire blown about in the wind. A great, deep hiss filled his ears, followed by the nays of horses blinded by the terror that accompanies the attack of a predator.

Black Paw shouted, "Kay!"

Kaeorin answered the call. "Come on! It's back!"

He ran on. Black Paw would catch up. He needed to get to that cart before the monster reached it. If he were honest with himself, he couldn't say that he much cared what happened to Merkel, though the thought of leaving anyone to the beast was chilling. Night Wind, however, was trying to help them. He, at least, deserved saving, and he seemed to know something about Kaeorin's predicament. That felyne was not dying before he revealed what he knew.

The cart lurched back into sight, flying across the road, down the short bank opposite the rock wall, and crashed into the tree line. Kaeorin retrieved two capsules from his bandolier, handed them to Black Paw. "If Night Wind and Merkel are in there, they're going to need these, and I need a trap."

Black Paw did as he was told. "You sure you don't want me to come with you, nya?"

"Of course I do. But I need you to take care of this first. We need those guys alive, y'know?"

Black Paw nodded and swore to return before leaping away at full bound.

Kaeorin ran to the rock wall, stuck to it as he walked up the road. He heard it eating, all hums and grumbles and shifting of stone and earth under its massive claws. He saw the horns first. Black as night, and yet luminous with a rich violet glow. The light grew and faded with the rhythm of great, careful breath. As more of it came into view, Kaeorin could see that the violet light ran along the entire creature's body, so dark and yet so bright at the same time. It seemed out of place, being in the light of the sun.

Kaeorin crouched. It made so much noise on its own, he hoped he could sneak up to it unnoticed. His daring paid off, and he set his shock trap behind the nearest rear leg without drawing its attention. The beast continued to feast. After gaining some distance, he unfolded his bow and drew. The arrow thudded into the leg of the beast with a satisfactory thud. It flinched, then released a great roar, and the sky grew even darker. Small black particles moved away, towards, and around the wings. The air thickened.

Kaeorin drew and waited. The beast did not disappoint. It turned to face him directly, threatening him with its great maw and the evil light pulsing within its horns. Kaeorin loosed the arrow, immediately drawing another. The shot was enough to snap a piece of horn. The beast flinched, stopping to shake off its confusion, which gave Kaeorin enough time to fully draw again. He released, the shot striking it just above where its eyes might be, had it any.

He moved back to lure the beast over the trap. It came for him, reached with its wing arm clean over the trap and snatched him in a terrible grip. It smashed its fist into the earth with him in it. Kaeorin felt a powerful rush of blood to his head and nearly fainted. He couldn't see clearly, but could feel the wind as the beast swung its hand about. He retched all over the beast and himself. He had a brief moment to realize that this might be the end.

Kaeorin heard a sound, like a high scream in the distance. It grew louder and louder, and then the beast lurched and collapsed, howling on its way down. It released him, threw him, and he tumbled across the road, coming to rest in a shallow stream. Movement was not possible, but his awareness grew, and he could hear others fighting the beast. He opened his eyes. A vague black shape streaked through the sky above. "Oh good. It's gone," he thought before he fell unconscious.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

The day had become night when Kaeorin woke. A small fire burned to his right. Black Paw lay curled against him on his left. Night Wind tended the fire and sniffed at a pot held above it. "Is it done yet?" croaked Kaeorin.

"Ah! You're up!" Night Wind said. "Not quite, but soon."

"Aw, man. I'm ravenous…and thirsty."

"That's understandable. You've been asleep for two days," said Night Wind.

"Two days? How is that possible?" Kaeorin stirred. His body creaked like an old floor, and there was pain in his back and ribs, but he was able to sit. Black Paw remained asleep.

Night Wind continued to stare into his cooking as he spoke, "It is a far greater thing that you are alive at all. Imagine, a hunter standing in front of a beast—a beast of which he knows very little, if anything, and remaining as still as a stone while he hopes for the best. How long would such an idiot last?"

"I was trying to lure it into the trap," Kaeorin offered.

"Which did, eventually, happen, but how did that work out for you?"

Kaeorin stared into the fire with a groan. Night Wind continued, "If you were not a hunter, I do not believe you would be alive at all."

"Come now," Kaeorin chuckled, "I'm no different than any other human. I just got lucky."

Night Wind turned from his cooking to look directly at Kaeorin, "Perhaps, but I no longer believe that is true."

"Heh. Sure," said Kaeorin, dismissing the comment.

"Observe." NightWind walked to Merkel, who had, so far, said not one word. "Show him."

Kaeorin heard harsh whispering as Merkel argued. After some time, he resigned and approached the fire, opened his tunic. The scratch on his chest, given to him by Night Wind I nhis own office, just a few days ago, seemed to be healing normally, but the skin around glowed a purple hue as vivid as any flower or morning bird. Along the scratch line, a dark, almost black streak marked the place where the beast's scale had cut him.

"Now," said NightWind, "look at yours."

Kaeorin pulled up his trousers to examine his leg, the place on his calf where the best had cut him several days before. His skin appeared perfectly normal. "But, how can that be? There must be an infection."

"I had a felyne friend look at Merkel in Harth, under oath of secrecy. He assures us this is no normal infection, and this is no allergy. This is a unique affliction, and you don't suffer from it."

"How does that make me not human?"Kaeorin protested.

"I don't know. I suppose I'm not completely sure what I'm talking about, but we will have a better idea in a few days when we have more information. We have another hunter with us. She went on ahead into Harth, but she should return soon. She was cut while trying to save your life from the beast, so we can see how she does with it."

Black Paw rose, stretched and yawned with great drama the way a felyne does, claws digging into the earth. He waddled next to Kaeorin and helped him sit up for dinner. Kaeorin was more curious now and tried to further prod Night Wind for answers. In answer to Kaeorin's attempts to ask more questions, Night Wind shoved a bowl into his hand and a spoon into his mouth. Another hunter? Kaeorin couldn't remember that, but then again, he couldn't clearly remember anything of that encounter except a dark, blurry shape flying above his head.

Shortly after their meal, a hunter walked into the camp, armored much more heavily than Kaeorin, a massive shield visible above her frame. She sat on a small log next to the fire and took some meat from the spit, all without a word. Only after the bones were clean did she remove her helmet. She kept her hair cut as short as any man Kaeorin had known. Her skin looked rough and tanned from the countless days spent hunting under the sun. Indeed, if not for her beautifully high cheekbones, she'd not appear any different from any male hunter he'd ever met. She took a deep swallow of drink before belching her satisfaction.

"How do we get to Cathar from here?" Kaeorin asked no one in particular.

Black Paw padded next to him and sat. "There is an airship dock further up the mountain, run by the Troverians."

"Oh, so there should be no problem, right?" offered Kaeorin.

"I wish, nya?" replied Black Paw.

Night Wind spoke, "There are guild representatives everywhere. We will have to sneak around them to secure passage on an air ferry."

Kaeorin felt confused. "Okay. Why is that a problem?"

"Because they know your face," said the woman hunter.

Her voice is deeper than the festival drums in Val Harbor, he thought. "How can that be? How can they even know what's going on?"

She elaborated. "Well, that piece o' Jaggi dung over there," she said while pointing her meat bone towards Merkel, "told a whole cart load of 'em about it. You almost got lucky when the beast attacked, but a few of 'em survived and got away. Now, they think you kidnapped him and they're lookin' for ya."

Merkel broke his silence, "Well, what was I supposed to do? He attacked me in Val Harbor, somehow managed to manipulate my felyne into helping him, and he won't let me get proper medical help for a disease."

"Master. We've spoken about this many ti—"

Merkel would not hear him. "No! No more crazy talk of shamans or clerics or whatever is up there in that backwoods village. You and I are going straight to the authorities as soon as we can."

Night Wind stood, slammed the butt of his axe into the ground. "We can't! We won't. You'll die."

Merkel did not respond. He stared at them all for a moment. Growling, he stood and turned on one foot, then disappeared into his tent for the rest of the night. Night Wind sighed and sat, staring into the fire. Though Kaeorin had just woken, he still felt exhausted, presumably from his healing injuries. He wanted to speak to the new hunter more, but shook such thoughts from his head in favor of rest. She was not a beautiful woman by the standards of most men, but he found himself attracted to her, and he wanted to know more about her, but that would just have to wait. "Have a good night, Black Paw," he said to his companion. Lying down on his bed mat, he fell back asleep in an instant.

Kaeorin woke in the early morning. He felt remarkably better and in good deal less pain. So much so that he began to wonder if there was some truth to Night Wind's words. The others had begun to stir. Merkel and Night Wind were already fully awake and packed. Merkel walked to him. He walked straight and tall, with a resolute look in his eyes, like someone who had accepted punishment, but insisted on rebelling with nothing but a stiring display of cultivated pride.

"We've...talked," Merkel began, "and I've resolved to, at least, satisfy my felyne's obsessive need to take me to Cathar. I'll not make any more trouble until then." He shifted his stance, folded his arms, "but rest assured, I will take action against you when this silly business is over. You will answer to the authorities, properly, for your actions."

"If you survive," mumbled Kaeorin.

"What was that?" asked Merkel, raising an eyebrow.

"I said, 'very well then.'"

Disgust crossed Merkel's face, but he let it go and returned to Night Wind.

The new hunter spoke, "you stay here for right now, Kaeorin. I'm goin' to book our passage. I'll come get you all, and we'll head into town, proper, and up the trail to the airship dock. There's ferries leaving every day, so it shouldn't be a problem. Make sure you pack up anything that might make you easy to identify." She pointed at Merkel, "You need to get outta those guild clothes and keep your face hidden. I'll get you some new ones." She pointed at Kaeorin, "Kaeorin, you need to pack up that armor and your bow. I'll find something else to wear and wield. What else can you use."

"Um ,uh...I can use a sword and shield?" he offered.

"Good," she said, appearing relieved, "those are very easy to get in Harth. See you soon."

"Hey! Wait a minute," said Kaeorin.

She stopped and turned, staring at him with a look that said she was not at all pleased to be interrupted in her duties. "What?"

"You know my name?"

"Of course. Black Paw told me. Anything else, maybe something that's actually important?"

"But I don't know yours," he said.

"It's Taika," she said. "And no wandering around." She pointed East. "The village entrance is just over that hill, and the main road runs just a short ways nearby, over that way." She swept her pointing finger South. "Enjoy too much nature, and you'll be seen by some Guild trader or another hunter, and then we won't have much chance o' this working out."

Kaeorin stared at her. Merkel became incredulous. Taika laughed. "Relax, toothpick," she said to Merkel. He was silent. "You too," she said to Kaeorin. She slapped him on the buttocks with the broad flat of her heavy sword, and she left.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Taika returned after a few hours. She brought changes of clothes and equipment. Merkel had a cloak with a wide, low hood, and Kaeorin strapped on a set of armor made from a Tetsucabra, the "demon frog," as people liked to call it. Her palico accompanied her. She introduced him as Lucky. His fur was black, like Night Wind's, but with tiny patches of white fur scattered about. He wore a patch over his left eye, from beneath which came a scar that ran down over his cheek.

She also brought Kaeorin a sword and shield set, a basic, moderate-sized steel plate and a short sword that looked like a large hunting knife. Kaeorin stared at his new weapons, turning them over with great scrutiny. He looked displeased.

Taika noticed. "What's wrong? You don't like it?"

"I don't know," Kaeorin said, his voice lower than usual.

Taika become agitated, and she had no problem with showing it. "What? I thought you knew these weapons. This is solid work from an excellent smith. Basic, maybe, but sturdy and reliable." She fueled her own anger as she spoke, "I spent my own zenny so that you could have some stupid disguise, and I just met you a few days ago. What about some common gratitude? I saved your life, you…"

Kaeorin held his hand up to stop her. "No! No, I'm grateful. I really am. I just don't understand something. Something is not quite right. It's just…" he hesitated.

Already frustrated, Taika had no patience. "What? Come on, man!"

"I just don't understand…why this is so much smaller than yours," Kaeorin said, failing to sound as though he did not feel inadequate.

Taika's eyes widened and her mouth hung open in shock. For a moment, no one spoke or moved. The silence ended when Taika burst into a raging fit of laughter into which the rest of the party joined, save for Kaeorin. He stared down at his sword and shield, blushing, his face burning with embarrassment. Taika spoke as best she could through bouts of laughter. "It's not the size, fellow hunter, it's the skill to use it." That earned a fresh rise in laughter. Even Black Paw rolled on the ground. He wasn't even trying to look sympathetic. Kaeorin felt a hint of betrayal. He waited for them to run out of breath before saying anything more.

Kaeorin had to know. "Look, I have a sword and shield. You have a sword and a shield. I just don't understand. Isn't yours more powerful? Shouldn't I have the same thing? I mean, I'm even bigger than you."

The questions seemed to continue fueling Taika's laughter, though, thankfully for Kaeorin, she did not laugh another round of her ear-breaking guffaws. She placed her hand on his shoulder, calming herself enough to speak. "I don't have a conventional sword and shield. It's called a charge blade, and you already told me that you don't know how to use one. Trust me when I say that it is extraordinarily different from what you now wield."

Kaeorin looked down at the ground with a mixture of resigned defeat and continuing embarrassment. "Hey," Taika interrupted his brooding with a slap to the side of his head, "You know how to use that?"

"Yes," Kaeorin mumbled.

"Right, which is why you are going to use it, use it well, and you're going to act proud of the fact. If I gave you one of these, felynes would rush out of the bushes to cart you back to town in seconds." Kaeorin nodded in agreement. "Good. Then let's get going so we can make it to town in time for lunch."

The party had calmed down. They saw their fun was at an end and made to leave. A few steps down the trail, Black Paw shouted ahead to Taika's palico, Lucky. "you better watch out, brother. I got my eye on your human's large sword. I hear she really knows how to use it." Booming laughter ensued once again. Kaeorin walked on, folding his arms tight and trying to ignore them.

* * *

The noon sun shone brightly with only a few clouds in the sky. A steady breeze kept them cool. It carried the lullaby of swaying autumn leaves and the magical smell of smoking meat. Oh, how Kaeorin wished they were not fugitives. The closer they drew to Harth, the greater his longing grew.

Taika led them to a food stall that had its own tables. Kaeorin argued for the smoke house, but she forbade it. She wouldn't let him anywhere near his favorite places for fear he would be easily caught. She tried to ease his contrary attitude, assuring Kaeorin that the cook served the most delicious, deep fried food on this side of the world. Kaeorin had been ravenous since this morning and needed no such assurances. He went along willingly, though he continued to voice his preferences. Merkel remained less convinced, sneering at the hunters' enthusiasm. He ate his food, nevertheless, and seemed to enjoy it all the same.

Night Wind finished his meal quickly. He tugged Merkel to him, whispering directly into his ear. He, then, waddled to Kaeorin and spoke openly. "I will return soon. I need to look into something."

"Well, okay," said Kaeorin. He suspected Night Wind had some plot to pursue, but there was no way he could stop him from doing whatever he wanted. "Um, see you soon? And don't miss the ship takeoff."

"Of course not," said Night Wind, revealing nothing. He disappeared, hopping through a growing mass of people filling the markets.

They spent some time in the restaurant. The ship would not leave for a good while, and there was no need to wander about needlessly and risk being spotted by Guild Authorities. The Guild had its own enforcers, which they called Guild Authority Officers or the G.A.O. Hunters just called them guild wardens, well, just wardens, really. They maintained outposts near every Guild hall, no matter how small the village—anywhere that a hunter might turn in a carcass or a captured monster. The official reason for such a wide presence was that they couldn't let hunters bring in their game and not receive fair compensation, but some hunters believed there was more to it. Honestly, the pay was pretty good, so most hunters cared not one bit. They were simply thankful they didn't have to transport a dozen dragons a thousand mile across the country to get a fair price.

No wardens passed while the group ate and drank tea. Kaeorin watched for them with paranoid intensity. A few guild clerks hustled to and from the monster-intake pier at the airship dock further up the mountain. Hunters sometimes brought beasts down from the high mountains where nothing much lived. Only the Gods know how the few living there managed to survive. Plenty of hunters to eat, perhaps.

Kaeorin watched the guild officials with curiosity. They really did look happy and walked with smiles on their faces. Their jovial nature seemed to be more than just an act at the trade counter. He could not reconcile how some slimy supervising officer could have come from the ranks of such well-adjusted people. He glanced at Merkel, more than once, in contemplation of this puzzle. Merkel only looked down at the table, staring into the depths of his tea cup.

Merkel looked up, focused on Kaeorin. "I'm going to get a dessert at the lemon-cake tent," he said.

Kaeorin sat up, "Not without me."

Taika interrupted their violent stares, "Oh, let him go. It's an open tent, and you can see it from here. He'll come right back, won't you guild officer Merkel?"

Merkel looked to her, stared for a moment, his eyes traveling over Kaeorin and the felynes. Kaeorin didn't like it when he took that long to think about something. He laid a relaxed grip on the handle of his giant hunting knife. "That's right, hunter Taika. I'll get what I want and come back. I'll never be out of your sight. Besides, Kaeorin, you hunt dangerous beasts. Surely, you can locate a common human in a small mountain town, can't you?"

Kaeorin let it go with an exhalation that sounded half sigh, half growl. "Fine. Go. But do hurry. the need to hunt something is starting to become unbearable, and I'd prefer not to use you to satisfy it."

Merkel said nothing as he left to obtain his lemon cake. Kaeorin stared after him, brooding. He thought he might use some small talk to relax. With his eyes on Merkel, he asked Taika, "So, how long have you been a hunter?"

"A long time. Since before I passed into adulthood."

"Were your parents hunters?"

"Only my mother. A successful hunter and an unforgiving teacher. My father is a Wyverian cook, so life was actually quite good for a long time."

Kaeorin decided not to follow up on that. Merkel was stretching his neck trying to look at the fare while he waited in line. The tent he chose seemed very popular. "Did your mother teach you how to hunt with your weapon?" he asked.

"No. For that, I trained with—hey! Stop that!"

"Stop what?" he asked, truly confused.

"Oh! And now you're—oh!" Taika kicked his leg, hard. Kaeorin grunted, faced her, met the fury in her eyes.

"Why are you so damned angry?" he hissed.

Taika pressed her lips, her face boiling red. She stood and lashed out, kicking his chair. Her hunter's strength sent him into a neighboring table, fortunately vacant of guests. She marched away and out of sight.

Kaeorin thrashed about as he struggled to free himself from two stubborn dining chairs. Guests stared at him as he rose in a cloud of splintering wood and colorful language. A server stared on in horror as he, having achieved balance on both feet, proceeded to kick and stomp the offending chairs into oblivion. Having removed the threat, Kaeorin became calm. He recognized the attention he had drawn. The server tried to get his attention, but fell short of words. Kaeorin placed a handful of zenny in his hand. "That should about cover it," he said as he left.

Limping through the gate, shaking off wood pieces stuck in his armor, he realized he had lost sight of Merkel. He strode towards the confectioners' booths, scanning for any sign of the guild agent. Nothing. Kaeorin cursed quietly as he tried to think. Merkel called this a kidnapping. Maybe he had gone the local guild office to report it and seek protection. Kaeorin made for the airship docks where the guild office and hunting station stood. He scanned carefully as he walked, but he could not find Merkel. His anxiety increased and he quickened his pace.

At the docks, a small, sturdy bridge crossed the large creek that separated the edges of upper Harth from the ship docks, storage yards, and guild buildings. Kaeorin slid to a stop on the far side as he spotted Merkel. Next to him stood two guild security offices to whom he spoke with a great deal of energy and animation. Nearby stood a guild marm in her bright green uniform, bouncing with boredom and looking all around her. Kaeorin took too long to decide what to do, and the marm soon spotted him. She leaned towards him and stared, squinting her eyes as though it would improve her sight. Her eyes widened, and she pointed at Kaeorin, jumping up and down while waving at the guild security officers. If being seen by guild security wasn't so dangerous, the sight would have been adorable.

He scanned for the area for some cover. A gargwa-drawn rickshaw started to cross the bridge from behind. He acted on his plan to hitch a ride, but a shout of, "you there! Halt!" told him the opportunity had passed. Without looking back, Kaeorin dashed back across the bridge, past the rickshaw. A ball of flame, falling from the sky, cut short his escape. The fireball burst upon the ground in a roar, the spreading flames licking the bridge and igniting the exit, leaving a fence of fire in its wake.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

The light and heat of the fire made it difficult to see anything beyond. Kaeorin heard a crackle and a deep rush of wind. He rolled backward as another fire ball landed where he had been standing. He brought up his shield just in time to deflect a third. A Kut-Ku leapt through the flames. It pecked at Kaeorin with a roaring cluck. Kaeorin rolled to the side and watched it accidentally hit the ground too hard and struggle to extract its head from the broken bridge planks.

Kut-Kus were strange monsters because they looked ridiculous, annoyed huners with their antics, yet they could still be extremely dangerous. They were certainly dangerous in any town, even one as small as a village. They were small enough to be hidden by some buildings while, at the same time, setting them on fire. Kaoerin had trouble taking them seriously, even though taking them lightly could get anyone killed.

He shimmied and danced around it while he fiddled through the contents of his hunting pouch, eventually finding his remaining sonic bomb. Little more than a soft and pliable grey marble, it boasted many hunting uses with its powerful burst of sound. He ran away from it a few steps, turned and threw. The bomb hit the Kut-Ku in the face, the casing breaking on the bird wyvern's hard beak. It threw its head back in pain and shock, then went limp. Though is still stood, its head hung low, dangling from its neck.

Kaeorin used the chance to escape. Getting into a hunt now would almost certainly ensure he is caught by the guild. He turned and ran after the rickshaw towards the docks. Then he remembered Merkel. As much as he wanted to, he couldn't bring himself to leave Merkel behind. He'd hate to feel responsible for anyone's death, but it was more important to stop his conversation with the guild officials. With a dramatic sigh of frustration, Kaeorin spun on his right heel, turned left, and ran straight at Merkel, arms held open.

Merkel had his eyes on the situation. Everyone did. When he saw Kaeorin change direction and run at him, he jumped in terror before trying to run away. Turning his back on Kaeorin only made it easier for him to be scooped up. Before he knew what was happening, he found himself riding, uncomfortably, across Kaeorin's broad, armored shoulders.

The Kut-Ku pursued them. In a way, this felt perfectly fine to Kaeorin, as he couldn't hear Merkel's shrill screaming over the Kut-Ku's incendiary rampage. He ran a hard sprint towards the storage yard shipping lockers, hoping he could out-maneuver it somewhere within the tall rows of stone. He zig-zagged among the storage towers, diverging from and returning to the main freight path that led to the docks.

He could not lose the damn thing. Kaeorin began to worry. Few wyverns possessed less intelligence than a Kut-Ku, and it had an attention span to match. It should have gone pecking at some gargwa or oxen by now. Besides, the storage towers may be stone, but the scaffolding wasn't. Yard workers built wooden scaffolds to load and unload goods, and piles of flammable stuff was stacked everywhere. If that wyvern didn't leave soon, the yard would catch on fire and endanger the docks.

Kaeorin reached the end of the storage yard. From here, the loading ramps rose to the airships and their cargo holds. He hoped there were people ahead who were prepared to fight a monster, but he wasn't willing to count on it. Kaeorin placed Merkel on the ground, who placed his hands over his ribs as he took quick, shallow breaths.

Kaeorin drew his sword and shield, ready to receive the charge of the Kut-Ku. It came, charging like the reckless bird it was, head lolling back and forth. He rolled to the left, expecting it to charge through like they always do, but when he turned and stood, it faced him already. He brought his shield up just in time to deflect the monster's beak. He started circling left as he approached it. Just as he began a lunging swing at its head, it reared up, and Kaeorin missed. He thought it was getting angry, but it staggered backward, choking and gargling escaping its throat. A voice shouted, "run!"

Kaeorin shifted his stance, cocked his head. Black Paw was riding the Kut-Ku. He held a thick cord that was wrapped around its throat, pulling it as hard as he could, arms extending behind him. "Get up to the ship. Dock 6!" he roared in his scratchy felyne voice.

"What's at Dock 6?"

"I just told you. Now hurry up. I'm a little busy right now," Black Paw said while struggling to keep control of the Kut-Ku, growling and meowing. "Don't worry. I'll be there. Got something to finish."

"What in the world are you doing?" Kaeorin had trouble believing what he was seeing. He had seen a hundred hunters mount a monster for an attack, but never to ride one. "Where's the monster alarm?"

"I knocked out those guys. The alarms not coming soon."

"How long have you been on that?"

"Grrr. The whole time." The Kut-Ku had started hopping, trying to shake Black Paw.

"You're crazy! Why would you—if the guild ever catches us, they're going to execute us!"

Black Paw hissed, "do you not listen, brother? I'm busy. We're busy. Just go!"

Kaeorin sighed, growled, tapped his sword to his helmet in frustration. He sheathed his sword and shield and lifted Merkel back onto his shoulders, despite his attempt to crawl away. Kaeorin ran straight to Dock 6 without looking back.

He navigated the system of ramps without interruption. There were workers and security all over. They must have heard the monster coming as they were dug into protective positions despite the absence of a proper alarm. They looked calm, waiting for a monster they had yet to see. Kaeorin ran past ballistas mounted along the wider, main freight ramps. Gunners tended to them from behind short walls made of sandbags and stone. He exchanged a nod in greeting to each gun nest as he passed them.

Taika waited by the ship at Dock 6, pacing about with her palico, swinging her sword every few steps. Her head snapped to attention at the sound of Kaeorin's footsteps and waved him over. The two of them walked Merkel up the landing ramp into the airship, Lucky shoving from behind.

"Where's Black Paw?" Taika asked.

"He's coming. He said he'd be along after he's done with the Kut-Ku."

"All this fuss over a loose Kut-Ku? Ha!" Taika stomped her foot with her laughter. Merkel whimpered. "Black Paw should be able to handle that, no problem."

"He's not fighting it."

"By the lords, then, what's he doing?"

Kaeorin cleared his throat. "He's, uh, riding it."

Taika laughed so hard she shook Merkel, and he cried with pain as her armor smacked his bruised ribs. They took him to one of the ship's passenger cabins and left him on the bed. They weren't concerned about watching him. He wasn't running away in his condition.

Taika and Kaeorin walked up to the deck. They looked out over the docks, down toward Harth village. The Kut-Ku was already out of sight, possibly captured or killed. They could see fires in the storage yard and scattered throughout the trees in the distance. "Well, that sure is keeping the Guild off our trail, isn't it?" Taika said.

"Yeah. It is. I hope Black Paw doesn't hurt anyone with this crazy stunt of his."

"That would be a problem for us," Taika agreed.

Kaeorin sighed, "yeah."

In the distance, far down the freight ramps where they meet the storage yard, Kaeorin saw something hopping in their direction. He hoped it was Black Paw. With the Kut-Ku subdued, it would not be long before people came asking questions.

"Taika," said Kaeorin, his eyes still on the freight ramps.

"Uh, yup."

He looked at her then back at the ramps. "What was going on earlier, when you kicked me over in my chair?"

She continued looking out toward the village. "I'm sorry. I don't want to talk about it. Just forget about it."

"Sure. We're all hunters. We're not the most socially refined people, right?"

She stared down at the floor, tapped it a few times with the toe of her boot. "Maybe some other time, yeah?"

"Yeah, okay," Kaeorin said. He kept watching the ramps, but he nodded and smiled.

The hopping shape was close enough, now, that he could tell it was, indeed, Black Paw. "That's him. We better check on Merkel before we take off.

"Right. I'll go. You stay here and wait for your felyne." Taika slapped his butt as she walked by.

Kaoerin kept tracking Black Paw. Black Paw skidded to a halt, head perked in the direction of the village. Kaeorin traced the path back with his eyes. A horse rider stormed through the tree line into the storage yard, soon followed by more. He squinted, trying to see if they wore guild uniforms. They were too far to tell, so he forced himself to put them out of his mind. If they were guild officers, the ship should be in the air before they could do anything about it.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

A sudden calm flooded the air. Sound seemed to disappear, save the distant gallop of the horse riders. The wind stopped blowing, and the tree boughs, with their delicate fall leaves, stood perfectly still. The sound of the airship workers stopped as they, too, noticed the stillness and laid down their tools.

Terror gripped Kaeorin. He exhaled, slow, deep, and measured, as he dug his fingers into the wooden deck railing. He focused his eyes on a tree line in the distance, standing tall and still at the edge of the storage yard. The trees began shifting violently, and flocks upon flocks of birds burst forth in a dark cloud of fear, filling the sky with shrill screams.

The air grew quiet once more. Then came the roar: a piercing shriek of a roar that unsettled the stillness in an instant. Kaeorin knew not the monster that uttered it. It burst forth from the trees, snapping its beak at the fleeing birds filling the sky. It beat its great wings before diving to the ground. Unsatisfied with its puny meal, it searched for other prey. It walked forward with purpose, pulling itself along with its long, powerful, winged forearms. Nearly the size of a storage trailer, its great strides pulled it through the storage yard with rapidity. It gained on the riders as it approached the dock ramps.

A shot came from somewhere, some large bolt fired from a gunner who could contain fear no longer. It hit the monster in its left wing arm. Kaeorin couldn't see that the shot had much effect on the monster, but it became enraged all the same. It drew a deep breath, then screamed, its wings and long neck fully outstretched. The scales on its body opened up, stretching out from its body. They vibrated in sync with its screaming roar. The sun had begun setting behind the mountain, and the evening light reflected off the monster's smooth scales, shimmering like a thousand swords being drawn at dusk. The monster took to the sky, dove, feet first, behind a storage trailer where it seemed to have found the gunner who shot it.

"Black Paw! We've got a problem! Help 'em out! I'll be right down!" Kaeorin shouted.

Black had reached the ramp of their airship. "Got it Boss!" he shouted back. He took off, running back the way he came towards the beast. Kaeorin, as always, marveled at the courage of felynes. They would run, without a flinch, towards great danger that would cause many a man to lose his bowels.

He hurried down to the passengers' quarters, not seeing Taika on deck. Kaeorin found her tending to Merkel. He lay on his bunk, asleep.

"How is he?" asked Kaeorin.

"I gave him something for the pain, so he's a lot more comfortable," she answered, half grinning.

"Good. Where's Night Wind?"

"Don't know, but I'm sure he'll be here soon." She noticed Kaeorin was alone. "Where's Black Paw?"

"We've got a problem. Didn't you hear?"

Without answering, she nodded in understanding. She handed Kaeorin his bow before grabbing her charge blade and following him back up to the deck.

* * *

Black Paw had the monster's attention. Kaeorin could see him darting around and beneath it, throwing his boomerang when he had an opening. The beast was still enraged, and it pursued Black Paw relentlessly.

"If he can lead it closer, he can draw it into range of the ballista nests down on the docks. Then, we can take it out with a lot less hassle," Kaeorin said to Taika.

"Right," she responded. She grabbed a field horn from her belt and blew. The horn's bellow filled the docks. It echoed from the bordering mountain heights and rolled back down to them, shaking the air with a vibration that a hunter felt in the soul. Kaeorin's skin tingled, his heart sped with joy, and the warmth of excitement spread through his body. Taika blew again and again until Black Paw noticed them and ran a dead sprint back to the airship.

Kaeorin put his hand on her arm. "Good. Let's go. We're going to have a better hunting zone next door."

They ran into the ship anchored at the adjacent dock and made their way up to the deck. Some of the crew saw they were monster hunters and eagerly gave them room to pass, while others needed pushing. The deck had a proper wall railing, affording them some cover while Kaeorin strung his bow and chose his arrow coatings.

Black Paw dashed about with everything he had. The monster wanted him. It rose with a heavy beat of its wings, then descended, reaching to catch Black Paw in its talons. Black Paw barely slipped out of its grasp as it tried to grab him again and again. Eventually, he found himself with some distance. He turned and ran for the ship.

Black Paw sprinted across the freight ramps towards dock six. He rounded a turn, his rear feet skidded around and past him, sliding over the smooth, worn wood. He kicked his feet even faster as he regained forward motion. The monster followed close behind. It lunged for Black Paw again. It missed, landing hard on the smooth patch of wood and sliding into a large arrangement of crates and barrels. It recovered quickly and continued its pursuit. Black Paw shouted "Wait for it!" as he ran, hoping that the gunners would hear him.

Black Paw reached the air ship. The gunners held their fire. With the all the confidence that only a felyne can muster, he taunted the beast with a dance, bouncing from left paw to right. He meowed a high, scratching tone that could only be described as mocking.

The beast screamed and rose into the air. It dove, spinning, wings arched back to launch feet-first at its target. It swooped in a great curve to come at Black Paw from his left. He dove forward on instinct, which turned out to be the best possible course of action as the monster rushed past him and came to a hover in the air.

"Fire!" Kaeorin commanded from the deck of the airship. Every gunner in range fired at the monster. The salvo of ballista bolts pierced its scales and staggered it. It swung around, looking to stop the source of its pain. "Black Paw! Trap it!" shouted Kaeorin, followed by, "Taika."

Taika, with a great war cry, leapt off the ship, drawing her charge blade. With a smooth motion, she slammed the sword into the shield, drawing the resulting, massive axe over her head without interruption. She brought the axe down on its neck, shattering its shimmering scales and sending it reeling to the round in a burst of sunlight sparks.

As Taika recovered, Kaeorin loosed his arrows. He did not know this monster, but most were weak to arrows in the head or neck, though finding a clean shot around Taika proved difficult. At the same time, Black Paw ran beside the beast as it struggled to stand. He worked with a fever to place a shock trap beneath the fury of the hunters and gunners. He finished and slid away as the trap began to crackle with energy.

The monster, large as it was, snapped upright in an instant as the trap ensnared it. It stood and quivered, immobile, the paralysis effect forcing it to twitch with extreme tension. Kaeorin and the gunners fired at will while Taika danced around the monster to cut it with her enormous sword, once more detached from her shield. She spun, once again combining her sword and shield in the same smooth motion, swinging her charge-blade axe in a great circle as she brought down a mighty swing, connecting with the monster's head, shattering its bladed horn and cutting its face deeply across its eye.

The trap fizzled out. The monster tossed its head back with a moan before lurching forward to lie flat on the dock, motionless. Taika shouted up to Kaeorin, "was that its death throe?"

"Dunno, but it looks like it," he shouted back. "I've never seen one before."

The hunters relaxed, catching their breath while still keeping their eyes on it. Black Paw started searching for viable parts to cut off it, all the while crying meows of excitement. This wasn't a guild-regulated kill. They would need to share with the dock crew, but they could take more than normally allowed from a guild hunt. Kaeorin leaned on the deck railing wall, one hand resting on his bow. He stared at the monster, trying to draw up some memory of it.

He had not travelled the whole world. Far from it. He knew there were many things he hadn't seen, but he couldn't understand how, or why, he would see a large monster that didn't live here. Most large monsters, for all their power, relied heavily on their natural ecology. Remove them from that, or take away an essential piece of it, and they die. He knew because the guild had tried to force environmental adaptation on a few. The monsters never lasted more than a season, with few exceptions. Combine this appearance with the strange dark dragon back on the steppe, and he found himself properly disturbed.

He noticed something that brought his mind back from wandering. A fain, black mist drifted from the monster's mouth and eyes. Kaeorin drew an arrow. "Black Paw! Taika! Scramble!"

Without hesitation, they dove away from the monster. It missed them as it rose, slashing and stomping, it's scales cutting the ropes being tied around it by the dock workers. Its frenzied tantrum sent them flying off the dock. Kaeorin fired an arrow, striking its beak and causing it to flinch. It inhaled and belted a great scream, much louder than before, paralyzing everyone as they covered their ears. As its cry pierced the air a flash of purple energy poured off it, dark and oozing. The monster shook the pain from its face and, with its one remaining eye, stared Kaeorin directly into his.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

Kaeorin drew an arrow, aiming to remove the monster's sight completely. He exhaled and relaxed. A bellow and a rumbling in the floor ruined his shot. He turned to see another monster, same as the one on the docks, stand on the ship's deck. It blinked its eyes and cocked its head left and right as it examined the hurried motion of the crew as they ran about. It stretched its beak to the sky and bellowed once more. Kaeorin followed the line of its long neck with his eyes. What he saw above threatened to break his spirit and destroy all hope.

Flocks of the beasts filled the sky like so many birds. They circled in a swirl of dark silhouettes that turned golden hues as they flew in and out of the afternoon sun. At times, one would catch the sun just right to send a brilliant display of glimmer down to earth. Sensing their prey near, their screeching began, and they descended in a magnificent, terrifying storm of scales. Nothing else could be heard. Kaeorin's mouth hung agape. Tension left his body. Slowly, he released his pull on his bow string.

The sounding of the airships' gongs brought him out of his stupor. The shipping docks of Harth became the center of a chaotic maelstrom of monsters and steel and the deafening cries of war. Hunting horns blew from the ships and rolled down to the village and all across the face of the mountain. Airship crews scrambled like crazed vermin.

Many ran to their artillery turrets while many more ran to launch their ships. One after another, ships shook with freedom as crew cut their anchor lines from their docking sections, and they ascended, ever so slowly. Ballista bolts littered the air as men traded shots with the wyverns descending all about them. Some monsters circled the ships, flinging pieces of themselves as missiles while landed on deck to attack the crew directly.

Kaeorin folded his bow. A few hunters would no longer be useful here. He turned back and leapt over the ship's railing to land near Taika and Black Paw, who still fought the infected beast. "Taika! Black Paw! Forget it! We're leaving!" He turned and ran for their ship with their footsteps close behind. With some ships already taking to the sky, theirs would certainly leave without them.

The distance was not far, but they could see their ship was already raising the ramp, the rear hatch drawing closed like a castle bridge. Lucky appeared in front of them, dashing at full stride. He slid to a stop and cupped his hands low to the ground. Taika picked up her pace, gaining all the speed she could muster. She reached Lucky and, with along stride, set her foot in the cup of his hands. His body jerked with shocking power as he lifted Taika's foot and launched her into the air as she propelled herself forward with the power of her own legs.

Bound for the ship hatch, she drew her charge blade into axe form and swung overhead, turning the great axe head and striking the hatch with the flat side. A cracking sound boomed as the hatch crashed onto the dock with Taika riding it. "Hold on a minute, there, sky sailors," she said to the stunned crew now lying on the ship's floor. The hunters and their palicos ran in. Kaeorin and Black Paw ran up to the deck while Taika and Lucky stayed behind to pull the hatch closed.

Kaeorin and Black Paw ran through the halls of the ship as fast as they could. They soon burst onto the deck, arrows knocked and boomerangs in hand. At that moment, the deck was clear of monsters. The crew hustled to fire their ballistas and cannons in an attempt to help the neighboring ships. Men on the ground scrambled as the docks began to burst apart under a barrage of canon fire meant for the beasts. Monsters circled about the fleet of fleeing airships.

The neighboring airship, from which the hunters had attacked the infected monster, was properly airborne, though it had not yet fully cleared the masts of the adjacent ships. One of the circling monsters landed on its deck, hard, knocking the nearby crew to the floor. They struggled and rolled as it tried to claw at them with the talons on its feet. A second monster rose in the sky from behind the ship. It flung its tail back and forth, sending shimmering projectiles back and forth. These struck some of the crew, who fell to the floor, grabbing their bodies in pain as they tried to crawl away. The monster continued flinging its salvo of missiles, and the sharp scales cut free one of the airbag-anchor ropes. The deck dropped suddenly, staggering monster and man alike.

The sky-borne monster flung its tail a third time. Its scales punctured the air bag in several places. It rippled from stem to stern as it lost pressure. The ship listed before the weight overcame the lift of the airbag in a dramatic, terrifying instant. It sank and crashed into the dock, filling the air with a thick cloud of wood and dust and screams.

Black Paw knocked on Kaeorin's leg armor. "Hey, Kay? Let's make sure that doesn't happen over here. Let's keep this ship safe and get out of here."

Kaeorin could only nod as he stared at the wreckage below.

A great weight rocked the ship on the port side, opposite of Kaeorin and Black Paw. Kaeorin spun to see another monster clinging to the side of the ship, its head and forearms hanging over the deck railing. It leaned over a canon and drooled over the cannoneer lying on the floor before it.

Kaeorin drew his bow and fired, hitting the monster in the shoulder. It noticed, but merely hissed and turned back to the cannoneer. It stepped forward to reach him with its beak, covering the canon with its body. With everything he had in him, the cannoneer kicked the monster as it pecked at him. It barely flinched before catching him, biting down on his shoulder.

Kaeorin ran straight at the monster shouting, "Black Paw!"

"Got it!" Black Paw answered.

Kaeorin fired another arrow before sheathing his bow. He struck true, but the monster would not release the man. Kaeorin picked up his pace. He dropped to the floor, sliding into a position alongside the cannoneer. A large boomerang sailed over them into the face of the monster. Sparks flew as it cut the beast and broke the metallic horn at the crest of its head.

Kaeorin grabbed the cannoneer and rolled onto him for protection. He kicked the monster under its chin, and it staggered, throwing its head back. He brought his foot down on the canon and pushed, turning the barrel to face directly up into the monster's abdomen. Kaeorin drew an arrow from his quiver and struck the canon with a wide slash. The massive broad head sent a shower of sparks into the firing chamber and ignited the gunpowder.

The canon fired, enveloping Kaeorin and the cannoneer in a cloud of smoke and flame. The beast lurched as the ball exploded against it stomach. It toppled backward and fell from the airship to the docks below. Kaeorin rolled off the cannoneer and lay on the deck, his armor blackened with charcoal. "Whew" he exclaimed.

As his adrenaline rush cooled, his senses caught up with him. His armor burned. He flopped about, violently, as he fought to stand and unbuckle the various overheated plates covering his body. "Help me get it off!" he shouted over and over. Some crew ran to help, but the armor burned their hands, and they withdrew. Kaeorin was at the edge of his tolerance. He fell to one knee, tipped his back and screamed in pain. He choked and fell over backwards as a torrent of water washed over him. He lay on the floor in a coughing fit. Only when he finished clearing his lungs of water did he notice his armor no longer burned him. The crew returned to his side and helped him out of his armor, slashing buckles and straps.

Kaeorin sat up to see Taika, Night Wind, and Lucky each holding a large bucket, dripping and empty. "Thanks guys," Kaeorin sighed.

Taika gave a thumbs-up while the palicos waved. Kaeorin shook the water from his hair and wrung out his clothes as best as he could. "Well. That should end the fish smell in your armor you were whining about," Taika said, laughing.

Kaeorin laughed in return. "By the Gods, please let this be over," he said as he stood.

Taika shook her head. "Sorry, hero-man. There's at least one more to go."

Kaeorin groaned, placed his head into the palm of his hand. He enjoyed a brief moment to wonder what might have happened had he just let it go and left Merkel alone that day. A piercing monster scream ended his reverie, followed by the sound of large beating wings and heavy weight landing on the ship's deck. The sound of the cry was already familiar to Kaeorin. He turned, armed himself with bow and arrow and gritted his teeth. The infected beast had landed. Hatred and rage beamed from the remaining eye of its horribly scarred face.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

Kaeorin turned to his companions. "Tell the crew they must gun them down immediately if more come. Their scales are sharp enough to cut through the airbags. If we fall from this height, I don't know if any of us will make it…and we're only climbing higher."

They asked no questions, simply nodded and ran in all directions. Kaeorin reached for his belongings. Putting his armor back on was not an option, but the arrow coatings and medicinal vials were intact. He slapped a white coating jar into his bow and tossed his bandolier of vials over his shoulder before facing the monster.

The beast stared down at Kaeorin, twitching with rage and disease. Kaeorin stared back across the deck. It raised its head to its right, then whipped it back across to its left. A barrage of scales spread, like a fan, towards Kaeorin. He rolled to his right as the monster raised its head, but he put himself right in the path of a scale. It flew past him, slicing his arm on the way. He felt nothing at first, but a sharp pain soon burned where he was cut. He tried to ignore it.

The monster repeated its attack. This time Kaeorin rolled forward, dodging under the scales. He drew an arrow and jogged closer. A lot of flying monsters had weak legs. If he could injure them, it might go down, and the crew could help him finish it off. He moved next to its left leg and fires. It growled in agitation.

It stood tall on its legs. With its left leg, it raised its large talons and slashed down at Kaeorin. He drew another arrow as he sidestepped it, moving around and behind it. Again, he fired at its legs. He hit his mark. The beast screamed, taking an awkward step backward as it arched its body in pain. It beat its wings, launching itself back as it threw more scales at him. He tried to dodge, but was cut again. The pain became unbearable. He rolled behind a stack of wood crates, crouching for cover.

His left sleeve stuck to him, soaked dep red with blood. He swallowed a potion from his bandolier. Briefly, he felt improvement and small burst of energy, but the pain soon returned. Kaeorin shouted with a start as something grabbed his uninjured shoulder. He spun to see Night Wind taking cover next to him.

"When did you get here?" Kaeorin asked.

"I've been here, caring for Merkel. I came into the ship while you were fighting the Seregios on the docks." Night wind searched through his supply pouch. He found what he wanted and handed some dried meat to Kaeorin with both paws.

"Mosswine Jerky? Thanks, but—"

"Eat it now. It will help stop the bleeding and ease the pain," Night Wind snapped.

Kaeorin had developed a good deal of respect for Night Wind. If not for that, he would have had trouble seeing this as anything but a child's game. He chewed the dried meat quickly and swallowed. The effect was immediate. His pain eased, and blood flowing from his wounds clotted so quickly he feel a strong sense of skin tightening where the scales had cut him. He looked at Night Wind with wide eyes.

"How in the world?"

"I don't know, and I don't care," Night Wind said as a matter of fact. "It works, and that's all that really matters."

Kaeorin nodded in acceptance. He knocked an arrow as he peered over the stack of freight. The Seregios strode towards them. It stopped, hopped and spun. As it landed, rear end facing him, it flung its tail in a wide arc from side to side, sending forth a spray of deadly scale blades. Kaeorin grabbed Night wind, who had climbed atop the crates to see the monster, and dropped back behind them amidst a cloud of wooden splinters.

The Seregios came for them. Kaeorin looked up to see it looming above, staring at him and Night Wind laying on the deck. He fumbled for his bow and an arrow. He found them and tried to take a shot. His elbow hit the floor before he could draw the bow string. He heart stopped as he realized he could not shoot.

A flash of sunlight blinded him as Taika's shining axe swung at the beast, singing through air. The Seregios staggered at the first strike, but hopped away to avoid the bite of Taika's next swing. It continued to evade as she pursued it back towards the bow of the ship. Kaeorin resumed breathing, and he felt the sound of his pounding heart deep inside his ears.

"Are you unhurt, Kaeorin?" Night Wind asked. Kaeorin nodded that he was unharmed.

"Good. Sit up and listen while you can. A Seregios is little more than a massive bird, all things considered, once you understand it. Its long neck is vulnerable, but this is true of any creature made this way. It knows this and so keeps it wings near, making the neck difficult to strike, particularly for hunters that shoot their weapons. The true weakness is beneath it. The legs will buckle under great aggression, more so than other such wyverns, and its belly is truly soft, should you find the opportunity to attack there."

Night Wind tapped the coating well of Kaeorin's bow. "The sharpness coating. Your instincts serve you well. The sharpness of the Seregios' scales and the liquid in your bow work in very similar ways. This is what make its body so dangerous and the bleeding so sever. Use this and stay close. Mind the talons."

Kaeorin nodded, taking two deep breaths before springing over the crates to face the Seregios. He watched Taika dive to the deck as the Seregios attacked, making a sharp swipe through the air. Kaeorin ran toward it as it hovered over her. It landed with a great flap of its wings. He rolled through the gust and rose just under its belly, firing his bow. He could have reached it with his arm, but the arrow coating did its work. The enhanced sharpness let the arrow drive into the beast's soft skin.

Kaeorin had its attention. It lifted itself onto one leg and clawed at him with the other. Kaeorin remembered what Night Wind had said: "mind the talons." He stepped to his left and began to draw a new arrow. But the Seregios was quick to switch feet as it turned to face the hunter, grasping and slashing. It caught Kaeorin, a talon raking him across the chest. The searing pain nearly took his breath away. The Seregios leapt back with a beat of its wings, slinging more sharpened scales. Kaeorin recovered in time to take action and rolled beneath them to rise up with bow drawn and fired, again, into the belly of the beast.

Anticipating its response, Kaeorin drew another. He stepped to his left, circling the Seregios as it tried to rake him with its talons. This time, he continued circling towards the monster's backside as it switched feet to attack with the other. It could not spin fast enough to catch him. Kaeorin let his arrow fly into its right leg.

The movements played out in this way twice more, Kaeorin changing direction each time. He moved, almost slowly, with great care and calculation. The ship's crew would later swear it looked as though man and monster had danced together rather than fought one another.

On the third shot, the Seregios fell, its wounded legs no longer able to support its mass. It flailed about the deck, sending showers of wood and fiber and man in all directions. The black mist rose from its whole body, and it appeared as though the beast writhed with great pain as a terrible, black fire consumed it whole. Taika and the palicoes sprang into action.

As he watched his companions rush in to attack the Seregios, Kaeorin felt a change. A hard, thumping heart beat preceded a relaxed calm. His muscles, though still in motion, relaxed, and his focus shifted. His companions slowed. All the urgency seemed to drain from their movements though not from their faces. The Seregios flailed more slowly. The change was slight enough that it did not appear lazy, but stark enough that Kaeorin could tell something was not right. His vision grew sharper. He could see the Seregios in such detail it was almost painful to take in.

He stepped to his right to improve his position as his companions attacked. He found a small opening for his arrows to reach the monster's belly. Due to his heightened perception, the opening could have been a few centimeters or a meter—it wouldn't have mattered. Kaeorin fired again and again, each shot true. Each arrow joining its brothers lodged in the monster's flesh.

The palicoes threw their boomerangs, striking the Seregios' wings, sending splinters of talon and scale and blood into the air. Taika held her weapon as sword and shield. She drew back the blade. Kaeorin thought she meant to strike the head, but Lucky slid in front of her, placing his hands in launch position. She jumped with his assistance, spinning her weapon back into an axe as she sailed over the beast's head and brought the blade down across its tail. The axe smashed the deck as it severed the hard tip from the body. The beast lurched in shock and pain, sending the palicoes scrambling.

It stood and turned. With a deep breath, it screamed its rage anew. The dark flames of the disease burst all around it, darkening the air. The Seregios took to the sky and dove for Taika, clawing at her with its feet. She pulled her axe apart, bringing the blade and shield to bear just in time to deflect the attack. At that moment, she seemed to weaken. Her legs buckled, and she fell to one knee. She kept herself up with her sword. The beast, as broken and beaten as it was, showed no signs of weakness. It took to the sky again and reared back to dive at her again. Kaeorin fired, trying to gain its attention, but it would not notice him. He ran for Taika. If he could reach, he might be able to force her out of its way. He ran as fast as he could, but despair threatened to overtake him as he realized he could not reach her in time.

His vision blared into a white nothingness followed by a short burst of high-pitched noise. It began to clear before it happened again. The second burst cleared quickly. When his vision returned, he saw the Seregios lay on the deck flopping like a land-trapped fish, struggling to stand. He ran to Taika. Blood ran down her arms and legs. Kaeorin gave her one of his potions and some of the mosswine jerky from Night Wind.

She looked at the jerky. "Are you serious?" she asked.

"Just eat it, Taika. You better take cover while its blind."

Taika sighed, stuff her mouth with the jerky, snatched the potion out of Kaeorin's hand, and crawled off. Kaeorin turned to face the monster. Blind and enraged the monster swung about, twisting and tossing it scales across the deck of the ship. Crew members fell to its onslaught, screaming. It swiped to Kaeorin's left. The beast flew off the ship into open sky, cutting an airbag-anchor rope as it spun. The rope snapped, and the ship shook.

The Seregios launched its vicious scales again and again at the ship. They sliced through another rope, and another. The ship leaned at a steep angle. Anything not secured to the deck slid off. Kaeorin sheathed his bow as he tried to hold on with hands and feet. A large piece of some crate hit him, taking his legs out from under him. He slid down the deck, flailing, trying to grab anything. The sound of tearing and a sudden tug on his shoulders halted his descent. He looked up to see Black Paw grabbing with both forepaws and, above him, Lucky held Black Paw. What held Lucky, Kaeorin could only guess. He felt certain he now knew the origins of Lucky's name.

"Shoot it, Kay! Shoot it!" Black Paw said, trying not to shout and failing.

"Like this?"

"Just do it, Kay. I know you can. You're the best." Black Paw made a grimaced half-grin.

Kaeorin drew his bow and an arrow. As he pulled the string back, a similar terror stuck him. His elbow hit the deck, preventing him from drawing the bowstring for a shot. He breathed deep breaths to stay calm as he looked around for a solution. Below, he saw the ship's railing remained intact, though the angle made it more of the floor instead of the wall. He knew what to do.

"Black Paw. Let go."

"What?"

"Let me go. It's the only way."

"No way, nya!"

"No time. Just do it. Trust me." Kaeorin kept his voice calm and measured.

Black Paw gritted his teeth, pressed his eyes shut, growled a little felyne growl. "Ok, Kay. See ya in a minute." He exhaled as he released Kaeorin's shredded shirt.

Kaeorin looked down as he sped towards the railing. He landed. The world stopped as he heard a crack, but he remained on solid footing. He stood the full width of the railing, giving himself room for a full draw of his bow. Breathing deeply, bow drawn, arrow touching his cheek. Kaeorin and the Seregios faced off across the sky, a beautiful but deadly expanse of mountain and forest spread out beneath them.

Kaeorin saw its one remaining eye as though it were right before him. He wanted to take that eye so badly, but he would never land such a critical hit at this range. He aimed for it anyway and fired. Shoot small—miss small. The beast deflected the arrow with its hard beak. He fired again and again, hitting it in different places. The beast flew closer. Kaeorin stood still and patient, waiting for it.

As he was just about fire, it noticed something above him. He heard the meows of the palicoes, and he knew they must have somehow distracted it. It rose higher and reached out with its feet. Kaeorin looked up. It had Black Paw pinned down with one foot while holding onto the frame of an open hatch with the other.

Sweating with fear, trying not to look down, Kaeorin stepped sideways to get a better shot. He fired and hit the leg holding Black Paw. That was enough. It turned to him and lifted its wings as it screamed at him. It raised its head as it screamed, the scales on its necked shaking like an army of knives about to strike. Kaeorin saw the opening and fired. His arrow pierced its throat, driving through its neck. The Seregios staggered and released its grip. It fell back onto the deck. It slid, smashing through the railing, tumbling out into the twilit sky and the dark forest below.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

"Nice shooting," Taika said.

"I guess. I could've done better. The pressure got to me."

Taika huffed and chuckled at Kaeorin's feigned modesty. "Well, at least it was good enough. This time."

"That's true," he said, nodding, staring down at the tiny village of Cathar as the clouds broke to reveal green fields and smoking chimneys. A sudden shiver ran through him. "It's cold all of a sudden."

"Ha!" Taika guffawed and slapped him on the back. The woman was strong. When her helmet was on, any one person might easily mistake her for a man. "We're at the top of a great mountain, sky hunter. The air is always cold. Let's just hope we're out of here by winter, eh?"

Taika strode off laughing. The ship's deck vibrated with the stomp of her boots as she left Kaeorin to wander his mind alone. "I did put an arrow through its neck," he thought to himself, "but I was aiming for the eye." The distinction of being named heroes belonged to every member of the ship's crew.

Kaeorin replayed the scenes in his mind. When the ship was leaning, the crew dove into hatches on deck to save themselves. They even grabbed Taika. After he had driven off the Seregios, they emerged to repair the ship. Men and women took great leaps into the air. Kaeorin thought they had gone mad and meant to plunge to their deaths on the forest tree. No one fell. They grabbed the rope netting around the airbag and threw more rope down to their comrades waiting on the railing. They tossed tools about themselves, never missing. It seemed like only seconds passed before they were righting the ship, one heave at a time. They leveled the deck and repaired the damage with only a slip of a foot or hand between success and death. The captain, too. Perhaps living another day is reward enough for them.

Kaeorin stood upright, hands settled lightly on the deck railing. He watched small flocks of Seregios fly about below, some so distant they appeared the size of normal birds. He wished they were. Those flocks were the reason they stayed aloft all night. It did not take much talking to convince the captain of it.

The mountain was not their normal habitat, and no living eyes have seen them in such large numbers. They would soon destroy the natural life cycle. Only time stood between them and the villages. Even normal birds, in a migration this large, would be disastrous, but large monsters? There were village huts smaller than an adult Seregios. Kaeorin shuddered at the thought and cursed his colorful imagination.

The ship docked in Cathar without incident, though the dock workers stare in shock at the damage. Night Wind accompanied the captain to meet the dock manager. He hoped to expedite Merkel's trip to a village healer. All color had drained from his skin, and his breathing was strained and shallow. Veins of dark color crawled up his neck from his chest, from the place Night Wind had cut him with the dark beast's scale. Taika and the palicoes sat in Merkel's cabin, waiting.

Night Wind knocked and walked in. Behind him entered two men wearing white robes, carrying a large satchel. "These are the village healer's nurses," said Night Wind. The nurses unfolded their satchel and turned it into a stretcher. "I've told them what has happened. Everything is in good hands. Fortunately, the people here know exactly what to do."

Taika spoke as she stepped aside for the nurses. "What? How can that be? Seregios have never lived near the mountain. They probably have never even seen one."

"I imagine you're going to learn soon enough," replied Night Wind. He stepped away from the door as the nurses left with Merkel cradled between them. "For now, you should get some rest. There is a guest house here, and it's quite well kept. I suggest you also wander around the village and enjoy it. Buy some food. Buy your hunting supplies, souvenirs, or whatever else you like. And, you should know that there is not one Guild house standing, nor one single Guild official stationed up here. You had best take advantage of the freedom while you can. They're bound to send some people up here in a few days…after they get the docks down in Harth back in order." He winked and smiled at them, as best as a felyne can, before following the nurses off the ship.

The guest house was an inn without a kitchen. A dozen rooms filled out the building. Balconies lined the outside on both floors. Kaeorin's room presented a beautiful view down the mountainside and into the valley, at the bottom of which lay Harth. He could see the dock fires still burning as the sun continued rising. He hoped they didn't hurt any innocent people, but he couldn't bring himself to feel guilty about the Guild office.

Kaeorin felt disgusting from all the fighting and excitement and from staying up all night. He found the bathhouse and washed before heading out to find some food.

Cathar was less than a pin prick on a map, and it had few restaurants to suggest otherwise, but, come nightfall, the few here were as bustling with activity and energy as any large trade port Kaeorin had seen. Each place specialized in a local tradition, so the fare was never the same. He couldn't get into his first or second choice, forced to walk a short hike up a rough trail to the next place. The short line of people in front of him told him he was not the first to suffer his fate. As he walked around a large stone outcropping, his frustrations disappeared with the smell of wood fire and smoked meat that met him.

Each establishment brewed their own ale and distilled their own spirits. A hostess sat him at a full bench crowded with locals. Before him appeared a mug of dark beer, both bitter and sweet. A platter followed with a massive, steaming chunk of kelbi meat accompanied with a dumpling made from rice, covered in a sweet and spicy sauce that smelled like a campfire. The heavy herb flavor of the meat was quite different from Kaeorin was used to, but it was delicious, and that suited him just fine.

A drunken woodcutter told him that the owners always loved when monster hunters came to Cathar. "They eat twice as much and drink many more times than that. What's better is that they always have the zenny to pay for it."

"What about the servers and cooks and brew masters? Do they always like it when monster hunters visit Cathar?" Kaeorin asked.

"Hmm. No, not always. Depends on the hunter, yeah?" replied the woodcutter.

"Well, yeah. That makes sense." Kaeorin nodded and finished his meal while listening to the woodcutter tell stories of things he had seen higher up the mountain. Some waved off his tall tales, and everyone laughed at his jokes.

Night Wind came for them early in the morning. Kaeorin felt uneasy and ready to see the healer. The woodcutter's comments had left him too curious about what happens to undesirable hunters. Taika, on the other hand, had no such encounter, it seemed, and exercised no restraint in her love of local ale. She moaned like a whining child as she prepared to leave. She tried using Lucky as an impromptu sun visor, but the brandishing of claws re-affirmed the nature of their relationship. She held a gloved hand over her eyes while chewing on jerky as Night Wind led them higher up the village side of the mountain.

The healer's house was small. Just behind it a path led up to a wide, flattened clearing where many people worked in fields filled with herbs and crops that Kaeorin did not recognize. Smoke curled from the chimney, accompanied by a scent of incense. The two nurses from yesterday stepped out through the front door, followed by a taller man wearing farmer's clothes. His large ears came to a point at their zenith.

"Pardon me, but are you the healer?" asked Kaeorin.

"Of course. These are my sons. Our family has served our role for many, many generations. My name is Musashi." He indicated his sons in turn. "This is Yuji and Masaru." The two sons bowed in respect to the hunters and their palicoes.

"Father," said Yuji. "We must hurry."

Kaeorin notice Merkel, then. He lay on a thin mattress on the floor. Musashi's sons lifted him and carried him between them. He wore a tunic that bound his arms in place, and a cotton hood covered his head completely. A loosely woven mesh netting covered the space where his mouth should be. From the mesh, a dark, sickly mist drifted.

"What is going on here? We're in enough trouble as it is," Kaeorin said.

Musashi raised his hand. "Worry not, hunter. The binding is for everyone's safety—ours, yours, and his. Please, up this path, beyond the fields is my dojo. We must go there immediately, if we are to save this man's life.


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

Kaeorin scoffed. "You can't be serious?"

"I can only imagine how this must look to you, but there is something that must be done, and we are going to save this man's life…though he will never be the same." Musashi's face showed a calm lack of expression, but his voice spoke with the edge of authority.

"You can't expect me to…I mean, I don't even know…You need to explain some things," Kaeorin stuttered. He was taken aback by Musashi's tone, and Merkel began to look like the Seregios from yesterday. He couldn't keep his thoughts clear.

"You will listen and do as I say, now!" Musashi met Kaeorin's eyes. "Boys, take the guild officer to the dojo and finish the preparations. The hunters will be there right away." He waited for them to leave. "And you, hunter, will do precisely as I instruct. After we are finished, you, as well, may never be quite the same." He followed his sons out of his and up the path to the dojo.

Kaeorin looked around for help. He felt a strong need to question the situation. He called to Taika. She sat on bench near the front door of the house. She was leaning on her massive charge blade shield, forehead resting on her arm and moaning quietly as she dealt with her hangover. She rejected Kaeorin's plea with a lazy wave of her free hand. He looked to the palicoes, but they submitted to Night Wind, who punched him in the thigh and pointed in the direction of the path. With a growl and a sigh, he walked to the dojo.

Masaru met Kaeorin at the dojo door. "Here. Put this on," Masaru said as he handed Kaeorin a thick bundle of folded fabric.

"What in the world is this?" Kaeorin said.

"It's what we wear while training wyverns. It will protect you, and it's meant to be torn to pieces." He passed the suit to Kaeorin, who had thought he was looking at a mess of heavy cotton. As he unfolded it, he felt hardwood plates inside.

Kaeorin paused. "Wait. Did you just say 'training wyverns?'"

Masaru kept working, helping Kaeorin lay out the suit. "No time for questions. You can ask father, after."

"After what? I really don't like this"

Masaru ignored Kaeorin as he helped him into the training suit. He fastened the buckles quickly and with precision. This was not Masaru's first time fitting the strange armor, or even his tenth time.

Masaru handed Kaeorin a helmet, a round piece covered in hardened leather with a steel face cage. "You need to fit that, yourself. Be sure you attach this throat guard, and double check that the fastenings are properly tight," he said as he handed him a small, curved steel plate.

Kaeorin looked at him as though he had told a poor joke, but he did as he was told. Musashi sat on the ground near the dojo entrance, silent. Masaru motioned Kaeorin over to the entrance door after he finished adjusting his helmet. He handed Kaeorin a wooden sword and shield. "You realize that this just keeps getting more and more strange," said Kaeorin.

"To you, yes, I can see how that may be." Masaru looked to his father, who remained silent, eyes closed, facing the dojo door. "Yes, very strange indeed," he continued, "You will know the purpose soon enough, and all will be made clear, I'm sure."

"Whatever you say, chief."

"No. that would be my father," replied Masaru.

"What?" Kaeorin glanced at Musashi. "Your father is the village healer and the chief?"

"That is what I just said, yes," answered Masaru, with a hint of irritation.

"Isn't he a bit young for that?" Kaeorin asked.

"Wyverians age well, they say. Now, focus!" Masaru struck Kaeorin in the forehead with his palm. Kaeorin growled low in response. "Save it. You're going to need that presently. Listen and do just what I say. When you enter, my brother will release the guild officer from his bindings. You must go at him without restraint. Those wooden weapons will prevent you from killing him."

Kaeorin gasped, incredulous. "I can't strike an unarmed person!"

"You will not have such reservations when he comes for you."

"No way. This is wrong."

"No more complaints," Masaru snapped, sounding like his father. "No more questions! No more hesitation, or maybe someone dies!"

Kaeorin stepped back, surprised, abashed, but also angry. He didn't want Merkel to die, or he would never be able to return home. He wanted to trust these men, as Night Wind seemed to, but he didn't know them, and what they asked of him seemed terribly cruel and dangerous. He didn't see much of a choice, though. Given Merkel's state, the situation had become desperate. Masaru stared at him.

Kaeorin nodded. Masaru opened the dojo door. Kaeorin saw Merkel on the floor with Yuji sitting behind him. One of the palicoes shoved Kaeorin in the back of his legs, sending him stumbling through the door, which was shut and locked behind him.

Bright light flooded the dojo. The hall smelled of the same incense burning at Musashi's home. The dark mist continued to drift out of Merkel's hood as Yuji eased Merkel into a sitting position. With one swift motion, he cut open Merkel's jacket and pulled off his hood, throwing them aside as he shoved Merkel at Kaeorin with his feet. Merkel's skin echoed the color of the mist curling out of his mouth. His eyes turned a burning red as he stared at Kaeorin with primal, murderous intent. Kaeorin was dumbstruck at the sight. He thought Merkel resembled the beast that spread the plague.

Merkel leapt at him, hands grasping at his shoulders, taking Kaeorin to the floor. Teeth gnashing, he bit and tore at Kaeorin's throat, but the guard plate held him back. Kaeorin threw him off, grabbed his wood weapons, and readied for the next charge.

He dodged Merkel next lunge. The two spun to face each other. Kaeorin thrust with the face of his shield, bashing Merkel in the chin as he rushed in. Merkel screamed and howled, as any monster would have, but renewed his focus and lunged again, ignoring the blood trickling out of his mouth. Like a monster, indeed.

Merkel lunged, his hands flailing in a swirling mess of dark flesh. Kaeorin stepped to his left, deflecting Merkel's uncontrolled slashes. He brought the wood sword down on the back of Merkel's head. Merkel dropped to the floor, flat. He twitched, moving his limbs slowly, moaning. Kaeorin stood ready to receive another charge.

Merkel could seem to do little more than squirm on the floor. Kaeorin relaxed, walked up to him and nudged him in the ribs with the toes of his boot. "Are you finished already, Officer Merkel?"

From across the dojo, Yuji shouted, "hunter, no!"

"C'mon. I don't think he's got much left."

Ina an explosion of motion, Merkel spun and slashed at Kaeorin with his hands. Wood chips flew off Kaeorin's shield as he brought it up to protect his face. Merkel followed it with a shoulder charge. Kaeorin kept Merkel at bay with his shield, but the force shoved him back across the dojo floor and nearly disarmed him. A mighty crack sounded from the shield.

Merkel stood, crooked and bestial, growling and snarling. Slowly, he circled Kaeorin, his hands outstretched like weapons. Dark mist continued to flow from his mouth and his eyes, which now glowed with a stark, violet light. Kaeorin matched Merkel's motions. Merkel lunged forward again, and Kaeorin readied his shield in the hopes that it would hold. Merkel did not strike, but grabbed the shield, his grip so strong that his fingers dug deep grooves into the wood. He tore the shield off Kaeorin's arm, snapped it in half over his knee, and tossed the pieces aside.

Merkel cracked a slight smile. He laughed a low, guttural chuckle that irritated Kaeorin as much as it chilled his spine. Kaeorin unleashed a flurry of strikes into Merkel's smiling, terrifying face. Merkel took the first blow like a challenge, but he withdrew from the pain of those that followed. He began to guard his face with is hands. At Kaeorin's next strike, he intercepted it, grabbing Kaeorin at the forearm. Using his whole body, he pulled with violence and threw Kaeorin behind him. Merkel ran after him and straddled his chest to pin him to the ground.

Kaeorin raised his legs for stability in an attempt to roll Merkel, but all he could do was guard himself with his arms as Merkel clawed at his face. Cloth tore and flew into the air, but the wooden plates held. Kaeorin tried to maneuver his hips into position to throw Merkel off. Merkel suddenly paused his onslaught. Kaeorin tried to move Merkel, but couldn't get enough leverage. Merkel stared into Kaeorin's eyes with a strange look. The sickly glow had diminished, somewhat. He no longer seemed to be in a bestial frenzy. He looked aware and furious. Merkel had been using his hands as claws. He formed them into fists and resumed his attacks. Uncontrolled slashing became deliberate strikes.

Kaeorin covered his face with his shield arm while he reached to grab his sword with his left. He blocked a punch with his forearm. The wood plate in the armor cracked. The pain that shot through his arm told Kaeorin that his own bones had broken along with the armor. He found the sword, spun it over to hold it with the blade inverted, and jabbed Merkel under the chin with the butt. The blow stunned Merkel. Kaeorin heard the sounds of a sickening grunt and chocked swallowing. Kaeorin saw the opening he needed to flip the sword and strike Merkel perfectly across his jawline, sending him sprawling across the floor.

Kaeorin stood. His armed throbbed with pain, and he couldn't bring himself to move it willingly. He was forced to let it hang by his side. Merkel stood slowly, his gait returning to that of a normal human. He had been wearing robes given to him by the healers. They were mostly shredded scraps, leaving him nearly naked. It was easy for Kaeorin to see that Merkel's physique had undergone a drastic change. Muscle and bulk replaced the once-lanky frame of Guild Office Merkel. Merkel stared at Kaeorin eye-to-eye, his breathing slow, heavy, and metered. He spoke, his voice gritty, but clear. "Things are…different now, eh hunter?" He stood fully and tossed aside the remainder of his shredded robe. "These past days, I have felt at your mercy, powerless and trapped. No more."

Merkel strode forward with confidence. Kaeorin struck with his wood sword, trying for a nerve point to bring him down quickly. Merkel stepped inside and struck with his own hand, crossing his body, to meet the sword, slicing through it and sending the shattered remnant through air. Kaeorin staggered backward and searched for the door.

Yuji stepped near and placed a device on the floor behind Merkel. He charged forward and struck Merkel in the back with two wood swords. Merkel flinched before turning to strike back. Yuji stepped aside without effort and countered, sending Merkel reeling onto the device. Upon touching it, he snapped to a position on all fours, twitching and grunting from the paralysis inflicted by the shock trap. Yuji put away one sword, retrieved a small tranquilizer from a hip pouch, and smashed it into Merkel's face.

Merkel slumped to the floor, still twitching. Yuji rolled him onto his back while retrieving the trap. "That will do hunter. Well done. Come, and we'll have father tend to your arm," he said.

"What about him?" Kaeorin asked.

"He is out of danger. For now, he sleeps. He'll find us when he wakes. Besides, his palico will watch over him until then."

Kaeorin sighed and wiped the sweat from his face.

"Yes, exactly," said Yuji.


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11

Kaeorin lay on a cot outside the healer's house. Musashi sat next to him, overseeing Masaru's treatment to Kaeorin's arm. Masaru applied a salve that smelled like rotten cabbage and spicy radishes while encouraging Kaeorin to drink a broth that tasted as rich and hearty as a winter stew. His conflicted senses kept him from feeling very comfortable. The three men did not speak for some time.

"What question is it that you wish to ask?" said Musashi, finally.

"Can I have the recipe for this soup? It's amazing," Kaeorin said.

Musashi chuckled. "thank you for the compliments, but, please, ask the question you actually want to ask."

"What just happened?"

Musashi gazed down the mountainside in the direction of Harth, the fires still visible. "Before I answer, I must know something." Kaeorin did not object. "You fought a dark plague beast and an infected Seregios. Is this correct?

"Yes."

"Then tell me. Did you feel it? Was there a time that you felt a greater sense of…power?"

Kaeorin remembered fighting the Seregios, when his senses had sharpened and he felt stronger and much, much faster then everyone, even the monster, itself. "Yes. It was like the world had slowed down for me. I felt like I could accomplish anything."

"Yes. Just so." Musashi paused for a moment, rubbing his scruffy chin. "The answer to your question is difficult to believe, but it is the answer, nevertheless."

"Ok. Then, what just happened?" Kaeorin said.

"What happened is exactly what you just saw," replied Musashi.

"Then, what did I just see?" Kaeorin asked with care.

Musashi turned to look at Kaeorin directly. "What you just saw, Kaeorin, was the way in which the first monster hunter was ever made."

Kaeorin stared at him, then Masaru, who continued addressing Kaeorin broken arm as if nothing had been said. Kaeorin laughed a great bellow. The shake of his heaving chest sent shocks of pain through his arm. "I didn't take you for a man of humor," he managed to stammer through grunts of pain.

"That's because I am not," replied Musashi. "As you might imagine, it happened a very, very long time ago, and the knowledge is all but forgotten, but I assure you, hunter—that is precisely how it was done."

Kaeorin was not one to easily believe hard-to-believe facts, but his imagination soon took hold, and the implications were so shocking and fascinating his mouth hung agape, even though he lay in bed. He couldn't bring himself to believe it fully, but recent events and the appearance of the dark beast allowed him to question what he knew.

"So, the first monster hunter was…made?" Kaeorin ventured.

"Yes, Kaeorin. And, after we saw that it could be done, and what she could accomplish after her transformation, many more were made thereafter. Men and women from the whole world over came to join their ranks. From those hunters, are all the rest descended."

"There has to be more to the story than that," said Kaeorin, unsatisfied.

"Of course there is," Musashi said with a smile.

"Are you going to tell it to me?"

"If you like. I hadn't planned on it, as I was unsure of your personal tolerance for long-winded storytellers."

Kaoerin chuckled, "So, you do have a sense a humor."

"I like to think that I can express one at the appropriate times," Musashi answered, still smiling.

Kaeorin shifted in bed, grunted from the pain in his arm. "Well, I do not feel like moving, and I do not feel like lying here in silence, and there is no way I could sleep right now, so, you might as well."

"Of course. I'll start some tea. The field workers will be breaking for lunch, soon. I'll have them bring us a something to eat." Musashi looked to his son. "Masaru, please help me move Kaeorin inside, then help your brother watch over the guild officer and prepare for his awakening." Masaru helped Musashi carry Kaeorin into the house and seat him at the table near the fireplace. After Kaeorin assured him he was comfortable, he bowed and left. Musashi disappeared to make tea. Some time later, he returned with a tea set, accompanied by a field worker. The worker placed two plates of food on the table, bowed to them and left. Musashi poured tea for both of them and sat. "Have you ever hunted an elder dragon, Kaeorin?" Musashi asked.

"No. I have not," he replied. He sipped his tea, which tasted strong and smelled like honey and wildflowers.

"Well, the gods forbid you ever do, but know that they are a proud species of monster. They are terrifying in their strength and power, and they're intelligent. Hunters have returned swearing that they can reason as well as any human—well, those that survived the encounter.

"Most everyone knows of elder dragons, but few know that they fight amongst themselves. They clash over territory as violently and with as much destruction as any human army. They do not only slash and bite with their claws, talons, and fangs, but they can also harness the elements. A single one can destroy an entire army of men, if one were to believe the stories."

"Do you believe the stories?" Kaeorin asked.

"I don't know if I believe the stories, as they are, but I have seen enough to know that they are founded on some truth." Musashi empties his tea cup, refilled it. "There is one old story I believe, and it happened on the very slopes of this great mountain."

Kaeorin grunted with waning interest, thinking this healer was about to tell him a common camp-fire horror story, like so many he heard before.

"A new dragon was born. A new type of dragon, rather. The stories say its scales shimmered like the heavens and that it flew on wings like that of angels."

Kaeorin interrupted, "That doesn't sound like much of a monster."

Musashi chuckled, "No, it does not. But, that is how the stories write it. Even if it were true, its appearance matter not. Elder dragons are made of bone and sinew and magic and death." Musashi's gaze chilled Kaeorin deeply. He decided to interrupt the man no more.

"This new dragon, this…young, elder dragon was quite different from the rest. It exercised no element that human eyes had seen. The adults were smaller than most of their peers. By all measures, it was a weaker creature than other elder dragons, but it had a weapon that no other possessed." Musashi paused. Kaeorin bit the inside of his cheek to resist the urge to speak.

Musashi continued, "That weapon was a virus. The virus infected almost everything. This included lesser monsters, small and large, despite their size. Even humans were not immune. The virus would kill most creatures it infected, but those that survived changed and became stronger. The surviving monsters became servants to the young elder dragon and protected it. This is how it survived amongst its kin. Its name is written as Shagaru Magala.

"Human first contracted the virus when the mountain tribes tried to fight it, and no human survived the virus until the healers of the time were able to kill and study a monster that survived it. When infected monsters immediately hunted for prey, their aggression, somehow, gave them the fortitude to withstand the virus. The virus, in turn, became a part of them.

"The healers of the time believed that, if a human could be as aggressive after contracting the virus, that the same thing could happen. Thanks to many brave, fallen volunteers, they learned that they were right."

Kaeorin could stay silent no longer. "Monster hunters were made? That's ridiculous," he said, brooding, fidgeting in his seat.

Musashi kept his pleasant tone, "You do not think it possible? After all you have seen?"

Kaeorin did not answer.

"Tell me, Kaeorin. Have you ever wondered how you could survive an encounter with a monster? Surely, you have been flung across a field or into a stone or tree by now? More than once, perhaps? You use a bow to hunt, I see. Have you ever lifted a normal person's hunting bow and compared it yours? Have considered that your companion's charge blade weighs nearly as much as a draft horse pony?"

"Of course I have," snapped Kaeorin.

"Then, what do you find so vexing?" Musashi asked.

"May I ask you some more questions?"

"You may," Musashi replied.

"The virus comes from the Shagaru Magala. That's what you said, right?"

"Yes. The virus is borne of the Shagaru Magala," Musashi replied.

"Then the virus isn't really a disease, is it? It is a living part of the dragon?"

"Yes, I would say that you are correct," Musashi said, finishing his second cup of tea and pouring himself another.

"Then the first hunters, and all those that came from then until now, are part dragon. We are all part monster, ourselves."

Musashi let silence hang between them, sipping his tea. Kaeorin had barely touched his. A sick feeling rolled in his stomach, and he couldn't bring himself to drink. Musashi and Kaeorin did not look at each other. Musashi finished his third cup before speaking. "I believe that what you propose is one accurate…perspective. We are, indeed, part monster," he said as he stood up and collected the tea set.

Kaeorin stared at Musashi, eyes wide. "What…what did you just say?"

"I have to be off on some errands," came Musashi's reply. "You should walk about the village and enjoy the mountain today, perhaps enjoy more of the food and ale in the village. Tomorrow, you will need to face Merkel again."

"But my arm," started Kaeorin.

Musashi stopped him, "You will not be fighting. You will be talking. What Merkel decides to do with his life is his choice, but he is a hunter now, and he needs to come to terms with that. By the fireplace, there are blankets you may take with, if you get cold." Musashi left with tea set in hand and did not return.

Kaeorin left, taking two blankets with him. For some reason, the cold up here chilled him to his core. He wrapped up and wandered Cathar until he found a quiet place to gaze down the mountain. His mind burned with chaos and confusion, like the fires of Harth, still lighting the valley below. Kaeorin watched them burn until the sun set behind him.


	12. Chapter 12

PART TWO

Chapter 12

Kaeorin woke to the smell of fire-roasted meat. He dressed and stepped out onto the balcony to see a large group of people roasting kelbi below. A dozen people tended two large roasting pits, several of them turning spits while others rubbed the meat with herbs and salt. Several more raked the coals to adjust the heat. The smell was a hint of heaven. Kaeorin's stomach grumbled and stung with the bite of hunger.

"Oy!" Kaeorin shouted. A woman responded. She worked at a table beneath the balcony, stirring some sort of mixture.

"Mornin' 'unter!" she shouted back. They continued shouting.

"I didn't know I was so hungry until I walked out here," he said.

She laughed, "thank ye 'unter. It's me own family recipe." Kaeorin thought she must have heard his stomach grumble again as she followed by saying, "Sorry love, bu' it'll be another hour or two before breakfast is ready."

Kaeorin thought that was worse news than being attacked by a Seregios, for certain. "That's an awful lot of breakfast, I see," Kaeorin said.

She laughed again. "You must've been a sound sleeper last night. House is full, love, and the chief insisted everyone be fed. They'll be plenty fer all. Don't you wurry 'bout that. Just be in the common room in a couple hours."

Kaeorin grunted in acknowledgement. He took a few breaths to help him wake, tilting his head back and relishing the cool morning air. The bed had been so warm, it was hypnotic. The cold and the scent of food rapidly, but pleasantly, roused him from his daze.

He scanned the forest stretching up the mountain, but a thick mist shortened his view. He shouted back down to the woman preparing breakfast. "Oy! These are some fine mists you have up on the mountain."

"Oh, that ain't mist 'unter. The winds shifted over night. That's the smoke from Harth burning. The chief's said the fire gone down, but the ash is smokin' somethin' fierce."

"Can that be, truly?" Kaeorin asked.

"Oh yes," The woman replied. "Go see for yourself. Walk 'round the other side of the house. You'll find the smell a bit less enticin'."

Kaeorin thanked the woman for the information and left her to her work. He put on some warmer clothes and left the house through the door on the valley side. Kaeorin coughed at the smell, strong as it was. Scents of burning wood and tar filled the air, but not the sweet kind, like a fire or a roasting pit. The smell felt like it stung his throat and scraped the inside of his nose with a hot knife. It was the kind of smell that puts a person in a state of alarm, not at ease.

Kaeorin walked down the path toward Cathar. He could see his way well enough, but the smoke obscured the village. The town center had been visible from the house door when he first arrived, and Harth could be seen from the edge of the village, even when it was not covered in flame. Now, he could see nothing as far as that. He only saw spare patches of bushes and trees as he walked along the trail.

With so little to see, Kaeorin's mind grew less sharp and wandered. He relived the moments of the last several days. At times, his imagination found the worst in him, exploring what-if situations that never happened. These thoughts caused his heart to race, and his face ached from frowning. He stopped and shook his head to force himself back into reality.

In time, he came back to last night's conversation. Musashi's words were difficult to accept but impossible to ignore. He hung on every word as he replayed them in his mind, the same as he had done when Musashi spoke them. All hunters were part dragon, created ages ago from humans in a bizarre ritual of combat—born of the very thing that was the reason for which they created themselves. Kaeorin didn't want to believe. The world had myths that were easier to believe.

And yet, Kaeorin couldn't deny the sense in it. The differences were obvious to any living soul who had seen hunters and normal humans together. He grew up around it and had thought nothing of it. He always believed he was simply trained to do the things that hunters can do. What couldn't a person accomplish with the right training? His ability to jump from great heights was a matter of technique and conditioning. He learned to express the elements in monster-crafted weapons through focus and familiarity with the weapon. Or, so he thought before now.

Kaeorin saw Cathar as it emerged from the mist of smoke. He found Musashi at the docks, directing a swirl of activity. "Good morning hunter. Killing time before breakfast?"

"Yeah," answered Kaeorin. He looked around. Dozens of people emerged from the smoke to the east, pulling freight carts past Kaeorin and Musashi on their way up the mountain in the direction from which Kaeorin had come. Open tents, newly erected, stood near the dock ramps. Beneath their canopies, men and women held meetings in quiet but excited voices. "What is going on?" Kaeorin asked Musashi.

"Some problems on the mountain last night. The Seregios flock seems to have roosted here. They attacked many ships. We lit a beacon for them, and most of them made it in time, just before the winds shifted and blew this smoke upon us."

"What's with the freight wagons?"

"Come. I'll show you," Musashi replied.

Tracing the path of the wagons, they walked past the edge of the village. Soon after, they came upon the airships. They had anchored themselves to the ground outside the village in a collective of stranded souls. Only the bottom of the floating ships could be seen through the smoke mist. From them, a forest of heavy, taut ropes shot out of the obscured sky to anchor points, huge steel loops rising out of the ground.

"Wow. You really don't see something like that very often," said Kaeorin, staring.

"Very true," said Musashi. "The smoke obscures them, mostly, but there are more than a dozen ships floating above us. There is not enough proper space at the dock, so I asked them to anchor here. The crews are moving off the ships to help conserve fuel until they can leave."

Kaeorin watched the spare crews working as he and Musashi strolled through the rope forest. He stared up at the ship hulls poking through the thick smoke haze, some flat, some rounded like a water vessel. He wondered how the small village of Cathar became a place visited by traders with such a variety of origins. The pair stayed silent until they were well clear of the forest of ships.

"So, do you believe it hunter?" asked Musashi.

"I don't know."

Musashi smiled, "that's a very good answer. What I told you is a long-kept secret of a long-forgotten truth. I suppose, in the end, it doesn't really matter if you believe it or not. The world knows nothing. It will not change if you choose to believe my words to be nothing more than a fireside ghost tale. Soon, you will see that Merkel is changed forever, and that is a thing that you cannot deny once you have seen it."

"But I haven't seen it."

"But you will." Musashi stopped walking, sighed, and placed his hand on Kaeorin's' shoulder, looking him in the eyes. "In the end, you must believe what you will and do what you must, but I did not have to tell you the secret of the plague of ancients, and my sons and I did not have to save Officer Merkel's life. We could have said that it was too late; all we could do for him was to ease his pain in his last moments."

Kaeorin felt a cold chill run from his head through his spine, to settle in his stomach. To think that this man would have, or could have, lied and let a man die, sobered his mind. After some time, tense and silent, he ventured to speak. "But?"

Musashi laughed a soft, childish laugh. The tension was gone, but Kaeorin would never see the man in the same light again. Musashi said, "But your arrival with Merkel, and the path that brought you here, tells me that something is happening and the world's need is greater than a tiny little secret."

Kaeorin didn't know what to say to that, so he said nothing. In silence, the two men walked back to the boarding house for breakfast. Newly laid benches covered the lawn outside the house, full of people laughing and talking, a pleasant hum of activity that drove away Kaeorin's growing melancholy. The smell of food returned to the air, and Kaeorin's hunger returned with multiplied intensity. Kaeorin saw the woman from this morning rush over to him. She must have seen the look on his face as she stuffed two fresh bread rolls into his hands before hurrying off to other duties. The rolls' warmth heated his chilled hands, and the aroma forced a smile onto his face. He devoured them before finding an empty seat next to Taika.

"Morning," he said to her.

"Mornin'," she replied.

"You're quiet. Up drinking again?"

"Oh, I was up late, but not drinking so much." Taika said. The person next to her left passed her a large wooden bowl filled with bread rolls. She took two and passed it to Kaeorin, who did the same and passed it on.

"Find some other source of fun, did you?"

"No," she said, staring only down at her plate as she spread butter on her bread.

"Did you talk to Musashi, last night?" he asked.

"More like he talked to me. He came to find me after you two were finished." She looked away from Kaeorin, appearing to wait for the meat platter to make its way to her.

Kaeorin wanted to press her with more questions, but she made her mood clear, and he had no intention of learning how she might act if she was truly agitated. They ate without speaking to one another. It was just as well. The food tasted so good, Kaeorin wouldn't have stopped eating to talk, even if Taika had wanted to. Airship crew men and women sat and talked and enjoyed some of the best food of their lives. They spoke of their struggles last night, their fights with the monsters. Some knew the name of Seregios and taught those that had never seen one. The hum of content people and smoked food and warmth reminded Kaeorin of the hunting halls. He hoped he could go home one day.

Taika cleaned her plate of all but the bones. She guzzled down her mug of lemon water and slammed it on the table. "Ahh. Gods," she exclaimed. "Ok. That feels a lot better. Here." From her side pouch, she withdrew a device of leather and metal and placed it in front of Kaeorin. "From Yuji. It's a brace for your arm."

"A brace? What for?"

She chuckled. A welcome sound. "We're going on a hunt," she said.

"What? A hunt? When?"

"Right now," she said. She wiped her mouth with a napkin and tossed it on her plate, standing. She slapped Kaeorin on the back. "Let's go."

"You can't be serious."

"Serious as the Rathalos we're looking for."

"Wait. Musashi said he needed me to talk to Merkel today," Kaeorin insisted.

"And, he told me that he needed Yuji and I to take you hunting today. One of those things, you are actually good at, so let's go."

Kaeorin resisted. "No. This needs to be done." He saw Merkel on the far end of the house common room. Kaeorin stood with intent and made to walk past Taika. She clotheslined him across the chest and slid her leg behind his knee, causing it to buckle. He struggled, but he couldn't remain standing. Taika caught him with her other arm and dragged him towards the door.

"Don't fight me. You'll ruin everyone's day, including ours," she said.

Kaeorin sighed and embraced her, resigned to let her drag him out and endure the playful laughter of all those watching.


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13

Kaeorin and Yuji walked along side one another. The trail had widened from a spartan horse path, and villagers from Cathar had first entered the steep crags an hour ago. They came hauling extra supplies to build a proper hunting camp. "How did the support crew get all the gear up here?" Kaeorin had asked Yuji.

"They have their ways. Don't worry about them. They are probably safer than you are, so long as they wander this mountain." he had answered.

Kaeorin didn't know what Yuji meant by that, so he dropped the subject. They continued their hike up the mountain. The sun hung directly overhead, rays peering through a canopy of forest. Kaeorin began to fully understand the size of the mountain. They had walked for half a common work day, and they had yet to reach the summit. Over the last hour, they had climbed steep inclines, and sheer rock faces rose out of the earth. Carrying their own camping equipment would have been quite the challenge for the three hunters and their palicoes. Kaeorin couldn't imagine how the people of Cathar managed it. The trails provided barely enough room for walking, and climbing was inevitable. A wagon would be impossible.

"The trail is quite different here. Almost a road," commented Kaeorin.

Yuji answered with a matter-of-fact tone, "Yes. It's part of a network of old trails used for trading, back before the advent of airships. The people of Cathar maintain some of them for their own purposes. Some of them wind their way all the way around the mountain, though most of those are fairly high up, within a day of the summit."

"Does that mean we're getting close to camp?" Kaeorin asked.

"It means Cathar has always been resourceful and considerate of the future when making decisions, but yes, actually, we are very close," replied Yuji. "We're nearly at the Mount camp site. We'll rest there for the remainder of the day and turn in early. We'll need the whole day, tomorrow, to find the Rathalos."

Taika spoke up. "What's the Mount?" she asked.

Yuji answered, "Heaven's Mount. It's a special place."

"Mount? As in mountain?" asked Taika.

"Well, it is a peak that could be called a mountain, in its own right, but no. The name comes from myths that say this is a place where man could come to mount his destiny and ride to the heavens. A place where the gods above, and the gods below, came together to commune with creatures of the earth. Eventually, that all ended, but there is a special energy left on the mount that often attracts large monsters. Many nest there."

"What do you mean by 'special energy?'" asked Taika.

Yuji smiled like a child keeping a secret. "You'll see. Very soon."

The hunters rounded a curve in the trail, following the arc of a great gnarl of slim trees. "Here," Yuji said.

Kaeorin saw two small stone pillars partially covered in rich, green moss. Uneven bumps and dark shadows suggested an image once graced their faces, now worn away beyond recognition. The pillars formed a wide break on the side of the trail like a gate. Kaeorin pushed aside some foliage blocking his way and stepped down a slight slope into a clearing. Those standing behind him heard him gasp as he saw Heaven's Mount for the first time.

"Black Paw! Taika! Lucky! You have to see this!" Kaeorin shouted, still looking forward. They hurried into the clearing, and they, in turn, stood dumbfounded and still like so many practice dummies waiting in the training yard.

Sharp, dark peaks rose into the sky. Winding within and about the peaks, enormous stones floated in midair. They bobbed and drifted with slight, but clear rhythm as if they floated on the surface of the ocean or a lake, not the open air above. Yet, they never moved far, always returning to a central position. Gnarled, tree-size vines grew between the stones, seeming to link them all together and anchor them to the mountain like a great explosion, held in place and frozen in time by nature itself.

The clearing had no cliff nor drop, yet Kaeorin could not help but move forward with small, slow shuffles of his feet, as if he might tumble into an abyss with one inevitable misstep. He held his hands at his sides for balance as he moved forward, transfixed, scanning the imposing and bizarre landscape.

"They, uh…they never fall?" Kaeorin asked no one in particular.

"There is no record of a floating stone ever falling from its place, and such records are quite old," replied Yuji as he stood next to Kaeorin.

"That's good," Kaeorin said, sitting on the ground as he continued to marvel at the sight of the Mount.

"Meow! Snap out of it, you crazy dreamer!" Black Paw's voice spoke to Kaeorin from some distant haze. He waved away the voice as he continued to stare at the Mount, focusing in and out, searching for new details.

A weight settled across Kaeorin's broad shoulders, followed by warmth and the caress of fur across the back of his neck and head. The rumble of a felyne's purr eased his shoulders. A short time passed before the purr turned to sighs, followed by low growls unnoticed by Kaeorin.

Unsuccessful in his attempts to passively pull Kaeorin out of his reverie, Black Paw began to knead. Kaeorin seemed oblivious, at first, but soon began to shrug and roll his shoulders, clearly irritated. Believing himself successful, Black Paw intensified the depth of his kneading. Kaeorin shrugged with greater intensity. Just when Black Paw thought he had won back the attention of his human, Kaeorin tossed his left shoulder back in a violent attempt to remove the irritation.

For a felyne, being surprised is often the same as being terrified. When a felyne and a human are both involved, the results are never good. Afraid of being thrown through the air, Black Paw held onto Kaeorin with the full fury of his clawed paws. Kaeorin's screams could be heard be heard echoing from stone to stone, all the way to the top of the Mount. Taika and Lucky shook their heads as they chuckled.

Some time later, the crew arrived with the equipment for the hunting camp. Kaeorin overheard one of them ask Yuji if they ran into trouble. They had heard a shrill cry that sounded like a bird wyvern. He had to hide his embarrassment as Yuji explained that everything was fine.

Kaeorin pressed Yuji for more information about the Mount over dinner. "How did this happen?" he asked.

Yuji began, "It is said that, at one time, Heaven's Mount was once whole. But, a god became enraged, a great serpent from within the earth. The tales say that he was as long as the Mount is tall, or longer. In his fury, he coiled himself all about the Mount and crushed it into so many pieces. No writing I have read gives an account as to why the serpent crushed the Mount. As I once told, Gods and men once gathered here to commune together. Perhaps he grew envious, or the meetings disturbed his sleep. Gods can be petty, quickly invoke their own wrath, and there are not always survivors to tell the full tale. But, the energy here is greater than he was, and you can see it, still holding the Mount together in the wake of its own destruction."

Kaeorin grumbled as he finished his stew. "I see. I don't know if I find that a satisfying explanation, but it's a very interesting story. Thank you," he said, smiling.

"You're welcome."

"All right, boys," Taika interrupted. Let's hurry it up and get to bed. We still need to make traps in the morning before we set off to move this Rathalos."

That ended all talk from the hunters that night. Kaeorin and Yuji helped clean the cookware before retiring to their tents.

In the morning, the hunters built their traps before eating breakfast together with the crew and leaving for the hunt. Yuji explained that they would take a short hike up hill through the Mount before descending towards the goat herds kept on the north-east face of the mountain with the goal of reaching them by mid-day. "It might seem foolish to walk up the mountain just to walk back down, but it's a lot faster than taking the trails all the way around. Besides, the Rath we're after actually nests up in the Mount. That's where we need to haul it after we've captured it."

"Does it normally fly down the mountain to feed on goat herds?" Taika asked.

"No. There's plenty of adequate wildlife much closer the Mount."

"Then why is it so far down?" Taika pressed.

"Either it got lost, or it was forced down there for some reason." Yuji looked at Taika and Kaeorin. "I'm guessing it has something to do with the cloud of new wyverns that followed you to Cathar," He said, stopping. He stared at them for a moment. His tone had not held any edge but his eyes betrayed and anger below his respectful demeanor. Taika and Kaeorin looked away, abashed. The palicoes looked at their feet, patting the paws together with nervous energy. The hunters and palicoes walked on without exchanging another word.

They found the herd around midday, as Yuji predicted. The animals grazed in a pleasant place on the mountain, roaming through fields of short, thick grass punctuated by clusters of thin trees green with dense foliage. The Rathalos did not disappoint with his timing. His mighty roar echoed down the mountain face from the skies. The hunters checked their weapons and supplies one final time before taking up the hunt.

Black Paw tugged at Kaeorin's tunic, whining. His ears lay flat against his head. "Something's wrong Kay."

"What is it?" He asked. He felt the answer before he heard it, a slow but violent chill that shook him to his heart. His muscles tensed. The scream echoed about them, as piercing as if a sword could put a voice to it its purpose. Stillness followed.

"Seregios," said Black Paw.


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14

The hunters and palicoes braced their packs and weapons against their bodies and sprinted for the nearest copse of trees, sliding into the tangle of shrubs and vines at the base. The herd stirred at the commotion of snapping branches and grunts. The animals grew silent, but remained unsettled.

From above, a Seregios screamed again. The wyvern dove toward the herd. Nearing its prey, the Seregios folded its body to bring its talons forward. It pulled up, reducing the intensity of its dive, transitioning into a shallow, wide swoop, raking the herd. It rose, having struck true, with prey held in each foot. So ravenous it must have been that it landed and began devouring its meal in field, right next to the crying, fleeing herd.

Kaeorin readied his bow, and the palicoes their boomerangs, but Yuji motioned for them to wait. They lowered their weapons, and little did they need to wait to understand the reason. Over the crown of a distant tree line sailed a Rathalos, and from its maw burst forth gouts of flame, rapidly approaching the Seregios. Fire struck the wyvern and the surrounding grass. It screamed and danced in pain, centered in a dome of flame. It took to the sky amidst a cacophony of beating wings, growls, screams, and the sound of metallic scales grinding as the beast thrashed about. The Seregios rose above the dome of flame, the force from its wings tossing ash all about, swirling, darkening the air. Steam poured from its scales, still glowing hot from the Rathalos' inferno.

The hunters stared at the sight as if in a reverie. The burning Seregios filled their vision. A strange flicker shook Kaeorin's sense back into him. Dark wings rose above the Seregios as the Rathalos charged with all its speed. "Everyone! On your stomachs!" he shouted. They did, and the Seregios smashed through the tops of the trees, propelled by the Rathalos, with wings extended back, its talons tearing at the abdomen of the Seregios. The tree copse exploded into a cloud of smoke and splinters and leaves. Everyone ran as the trees cracked and split and rained logs upon their heads.

Kaeorin stood and ran around the copse to find a scorched trail leading to the monsters. The Rathalos had the Seregios pinned, with one foot holding its body while it clawed at the head with the other. The bladed horn of the Seregios kept the Rathalos at bay.

After a few attempts, the Seregios found some leverage against the ground. It pushed away from the Rathalos with its back legs and reached with its wing talons. The Seregios reached with its wing arms and grabbed the wings of the Rathalos, pulling itself further upright. The monsters broke free of their engagement and launched to hover a short distance above the ground. They faced off, circling one another. The Seregios gained an advantage in altitude and lunged, biting into the Rathalos' neck.

The Rathalos howled and beat its wings against the Seregios with great violence. It released the Rathalos. As they parted, the Rathalos spit a ball of flame at the Seregios. As the fire set it ablaze, it spun and slammed its sharpened hammer of a tail into the face of the Rathalos. Both monsters fell a short distance from the sky to squirm on the ground in pain.

Kaeorin stood transfixed, entranced by both the majesty and brutality of the scene before him. A strong tug on his right shoulder startled him. He spun to see Yuji standing with Taika, Lucky, and black Paw. "You okay?" Yuji asked.

"Yeah," Kaeorin nodded.

"Good. Now's a good time, yeah?" Yuji motioned for all to huddle. "They'll be up real quick. Probably keep fighting. Do a quick check of your gear, then we're jumping into the fray." Yuji pointed at Black Paw. "You're going to help me little brother. We're going for the Rathalos. Don't worry much about attacking it. I need you stay near and lay down a trap when I signal you. The rest of you—you'll have to kill the Seregios. Act quickly, or we'll lose this opportunity." The hunters and palicoes nodded, checked their essentials, and ran for the monsters.

The two beasts had already risen and faced each other, again circling with care, hissing and growling. Yuji drew his dual swords and ran at the Rathalos unnoticed. Kaeorin slapped his sharpness coating into his bow's reservoir and nocked an arrow as Taika charged forward, Lucky following close behind.

Lucky ran ahead and slid to a stop near the Seregios. He cupped his paws in preparation as he had done at the docks of Harth, and, as then, Taika sprung into the air as he lifted her. Sailing through the air, she drew her weapon into an axe and brought it down onto the Seregios' right forearm. At the same time, Kaeorin loosed an arrow, which struck true to the monster's head and shattered its blade horn. It reeled away in pain.

The Rathalos, ignoring Yuji and Black Paw, lunged at the opportunity, biting the Sergios' neck, shaking it with violent rapidity. The Seregios broke free, losing flesh and scales and beating its wings for a brief flight backwards. It sent a spray of scales at hunter and monster alike. The hunters evaded them, but the many sharp scales punished the large silhouette of the Rathalos. It flinched in pain and shock. Yuji unleashed a dizzy flurry of strikes with his dual swords. The Rathalos' sensitive legs could not withstand the demonic fury of Yuji's strikes and it fell, howling and flailing. "Now Black Paw!" he shouted.

Black Paw dashed in, careful to avoid the Rathalos' poisonous talons. Near its neck, Black Paw went to work. His paws moved with swift felyne precision as he affixed the shock trap in place and activated the electric mechanism. Nearly as soon as he ran in, he was gone. Yuji stood before the Rathalos, swords sheathed, a different device in each hand, daring it to charge him with his stare.

The Rathalos did indeed step forward, only to launch itself into the sky. Yuji anticipated the move. His right hand had already released the flash bomb before the monster could properly beat its wings. The blinding light served its purpose. The Rathalos fell back to the earth on top of the shock trap, activating it. The massive current coursed through its body, snapping its body upright in a near instant. Tranquilizer in his left hand, Yuji grabbed another with his empty right hand as he ran forward. He threw them at the beast and, within seconds, the Rathalos collapsed into a deep, drug-induced sleep.

Kaeorin and Taika pursued the Seregios across the field. Kaeorin struck its leg with another arrow, and it hissed in pain, but it kept its position in the air, sending back another volley bladed scales. The hunters dover forward, evading beneath them, and continued running.

Closer now, Kaeorin fired again and struck it in the belly. The Seregios remained aloft, but lowered its head, stunned. Lucky and Taika used the chance to set up another leap attack. Lucky tossed Taika. Her launch was off. She missed a swing to the head, but she brought her axe down across the Seregios' tail as she fell. The axe struck a critical joint, severing the beast's tail. The Seregios dropped out of the sky, convulsing from the shock of a loss of limb. The hunters converged on it. From behind, Taika attacked what she could reach of the legs. Kaeorin moved in next to it and shot arrows into its abdomen. Lucky stayed back, using his boomerang to cut the neck and head. They struck the final blow as the beast tried to rise. It lurched forward in a death throw and collapsed.

Yuji ran over, nodding in approval. He brought a horn to his lips. Kaeorin grabbed it before he could sound it. "Wait," he said.

Wait they did for several minutes while Kaeorin stared at the motionless Seregios.

"Kaeorin," Yuji interrupted, "the Rathalos will not sleep forever."

Kaeorin looked to Yuji, then back to the Seregios. No sign of the plague came. "Alright, then," he said.

Yuji blew the horn. Its deep siren rolled across the field and into the trees. Soon after, the hunting crews from Cathar emerged from the forest with a wagon full of supplies. Seeing the crew, Kaeorin placed a hand on Yuji's arm to signal him to stop blowing the horn. Kaeorin looked over the field at the results of their work, then back to Yuji, and could not help the feeling that the sound of a hunting horn seemed less glorious than it once did.

A Rathalos weighs less than a person might expect, but not so much that transporting a live specimen was easy. Navigating the bizarre terrain of Heaven's Mount did nothing to ease the task. Only twilight lit the mountain as the hunting party stopped to rest.

Lucky sighed with deliberate emphasis. "Boss. Are we almost there?"

Black Paw slapped him on the back of the head and chided him for being disrespectful. "It's fine," Yuji said. "I've been asking you to push hard all day."

"Yeah, but Lucky hasn't had to walk. He just had to sit on the wagon. He didn't even have to give sedatives to the Rathalos to keep it sleeping on the here. I did that," Black Paw countered. Everyone in earshot laughed chuckled at the conversation. Lucky growled low with embarrassment and disappeared from sight.

"Look what you've done. That was too much. Go find him and apologize," Yuji said, still laughing.

The three hunters sat together while Black Paw ran off to find Lucky. "So, what's the plan from here?" Taika asked.

Yuji pointed in the direction of the setting sun. "Their nest is atop that stone peak next to the sunset. The sun is making it hard to see right now, but there is a smaller formation in front of it, creating a sort of…tiny valley. There's a path from here that leads into it. We're going to take Rathalos down to that place and cut him free. He'll be able to rejoin his Rathian in the nest after the sedatives wear off. We're going to hide and watch it to make sure nothing else up here attacks it while it's recovering."

"Good Gods, like what?" Kaeorin asked with a laugh. He couldn't imagine what could be up here that would attack a Rathalos.

"Possibly a Zinogre," replied Yuji.

Kaeorin and Taika sat in silence, contemplating the reality that they might have to fight such a violent beast before the end of the day. And so they sat until the felynes returned to break the silence. Black Paw ran to them and spoke in a horse, hurried whisper, agitated and with wide eyes. "Kay! Kay! Kay! You gotta come see somethin'. You gotta look right meow." Kaeorin stood immediately. Black Paw only spoke like that when he was too upset to control himself, and that rarely happened. He grabbed and clawed and tugged Kaeorin's leg before running off to the Rathalos. Kaeorin ran after him, followed by Taika and Yuji.

The Rathalos lay on the wagon, still bound tight and secure with a thick network of ropes and cables. Under the bindings, it moved in small, rapid, and sudden fits. Kaeorin ran around the wagon to the head where several crew members stood. "Is it awake?" he asked.

"No, hunter," said a woman. "It's twitching. Like it's having nightmares. And…look," she added as she pointed to the Rathalos' face.

Kaeorin's heart and stomach sank form his body into the earth when he saw it—the black mist of the plague, drifting from the beast's mouth. He stood still and stared. It was all he could do until Taika and Yuji caught up to him. He watched as Yuji stepped next to the Rathalos.

Yuji set his hand on its head with care. The hunting crew bowed their heads to him and walked away. Kaeorin watched Yuji as he caressed the Rathalos. He saw Yuji's mouth moving, speaking to it, though he could not hear. He heard the beast moan under Yuji's touch, much like children with a fever when a parent caresses their cheeks or places a cool cloth on their forehead. Taika and Kaeorin stood aside and waited.

After a moment, Yuji came to Taika and Kaeorin and looked at them in turn. He brought them together, one hand on the should of each, and said, "I need you to know, and believe, that this isn't your fault, and I don't blame you for it," tears creeping down his cheeks.

The hunters looked at each other. The felynes hugged their humans' legs. Kaeorin couldn't believe he had no fault in this. He looked to Taika for assurance. "It really isn't your fault," she said. "You didn't drive the Seregios flock to the mountain, and they had the plague before they got here."

It was a good thing to say, but Kaeorin didn't feel better. He reached down to pet Black Paw, who purred in response. "I need a minute to get ready," he droned as he stepped away. He sat a few meters away, his bow strung and ready by his side, with Black Paw curled in his lap. Kaeorin remained still as he listened to Yuji shout orders while petting Black Paw on the head.

Yuji began, "I'm so sorry everyone. This Rathalos has the plague. There is no cure, and there is no time. We have to—" Yuji paused. His voiced cracked with emotion. He cleared his throat and continued, "we must prevent the plague from infecting the whole mountain." Yuji let that sink in. "Bring me the stimulants so we can wake him up. We will not brutalize it while its pinned down like this."

Someone brought Yuji the stimulant he demanded, a glass and brass syringe full of a bright red liquid. Yuji continued, "Thank you. We'll finish it. Run and take cover until we're done. We don't need any injuries. What we have to do is bad enough."

The crew bowed to Yuji and ran for the far tree line up the hill opposite the Rath nest. Kaeorin volunteered to inject the stimulant as he had no blade. The others assented and placed themselves around the wagon. Atop the Rathalos, Kaeorin signaled the others to cut it free. They sliced the free the bindings. The Rathalos twitched, shaking the wagon.

Kaeorin's aim with a bow aided him. He slid the needle into the place Yuji had instructed and administered the medicine. Immediately, the drugs showed an effect. The Rathalos changed from twitching to shaking to thrashing out as it woke and struggled off the wagon bed. Kaeorin leaped to safety and prepared to fight alongside the others. The Rathalos demolished the wagon as it fought to take to the sky. It roared with rage. Spewing fames of warning and death, shrouding in the black mist of the plague. With heavy hearts, the hunters readied their weapons and charged.


	15. Chapter 15

Monster Hunter Chapter 15

"How is everything?" Taika asked.

"Very good," Yuji replied. "Mama Rath looks healthy, and the eggs are safe. Best thing we can do now is to control the spread of the plague."

Taika grunted and nodded, "we will. C'mon, have breakfast with us."

Yuji nodded and joined the others. Sunlight peered through the canopy of leaves, slowly warming the forest and highlighting the smoke from the cooking fires. The atmosphere felt light, but quiet. Friends spoke quietly and laughed gently. Yuji's news did much to lighten the hearts of everyone in the hunting expedition. It was just enough to assure them that nature's cycle had been preserved, for now. The hunters, their palicoes, and the people of Cathar understood that the plague of ancients was on the mountain, and its threat could not be denied. The mountain was quite vast, nearly the size of a nation, in its own right. The effort to contain the plague would be a great undertaking. The thought of it was enough to paralyze with the scale and possibility and fear. But, such thoughts would wait for another time. Now, was the time to enjoy the journey home.

Again, the caravan split from the hunters and palicoes as they each took their own paths to Cathar. Yuji led them home over a different path than the one they had used to travel to Heaven's Mount. Kaeorin asked him why, to which he answered that he always like to take a more scenic route home. Taika and Lucky tried to argue, but Yuji refused them. He said it was important, always, after a hunt, to take one's time returning and appreciate the land.

The two huffed and moaned and complained, but they grew quiet as time passed. As they walked, they saw the mountain. As they saw the mountain, it gave them gifts for their eyes. Each vista the mountain presented quieted their lips more and more, until they became silent. By the time they stopped for a mid-day meal, they seemed to have forgotten they had offered complaints at all. And, so continued their travels until they reached the village.

The hunters followed a trail to the edge of the forest. It continued all the way into the village and past the doorstep of the inn. Taking his first step beyond the forest threshold, Kaeorin saw a small group of villagers crowded around a tiny fire, over which smoked some meat skewers.

Someone stood. He seemed to notice Kaeorin leaving the trees. He pointed and slapped the shoulder of the person sitting to his right. That person stood, as well, and they both waved above their heads as they jogged toward Kaeorin, shouting, "hunter! Hunter!"

Yuji stood with Kaeorin as they met their visitors. They brought news of Guild officials who had docked in Cathar, last night. Musashi allowed them to land and lay anchor near the docks, as crowded as they were. Musashi sent them to meet the hunting party at the edge of the village. They said that the Guild officials came and took Merkel. Snatched him right in the middle of training.

The hunters and Palicoes followed the villagers back to the inn. They met few others on their way, but those they met stayed silent, only pausing long enough to give Yuji a confident nod and a brief, knowing glance. Only when they arrived at the inn did someone speak to them normally.

Later that evening, Taika summoned Kaeorin to dinner. As he left his room, she slapped the back of her hand against his chest to hold him in place. "You need to know they're going to be there," Taika said.

"Who?"

"Some of the Guild," Taika said in exasperation. "I swear, you're like a dim-witted Gargwa sometimes."

"Well, that's not nice," he said.

"Yeah, yeah," she said, waving him onward as they walked down to the dining hall.

The common hall held four long tables. Bench space was precious as guests sat cheek-to-cheek in an effort to make enough room for all. Guild officers sat at the neighboring long table to Taika and Kaeorin, at distant spots on the benches. They wore the identifying marks of Guild Wardens—a stark black capelet, illuminated by a red and gold insignia of the hunter's guild. The embroidery thread reflected the light of the chandelier candles, throwing tiny, bright flecks of light against the walls. Four of them sat together, speaking casually across the table.

Taika and Kaeorin spoke as they ate. The palicoes were not to be seen. "I'm not sure what to think about this," Taika started.

"Think about what?" Kaeorin asked.

"If they are here, and they have Merkel, then why are we still sitting here, free?" she asked.

"Hm, that is an excellent question," Kaeorin mumbled in between roasted fingerling potatoes. "Despite the change he has gone through, I can't imagine Merkel told them nothing about us, or at least me. He worked at his post for a couple years before I dragged him out of it. He had a reputation for being very rules-oriented. Even if he is no longer afraid or angry about what's happened, there's no way he wouldn't report it."

"I see," Taika ate slowly for some time before speaking again. "Those boys sure are careful not to get any food onto their little capes, aren't they?"

Kaeorin replied, "I've noticed that too. That's interesting because plenty of Guild Wardens are not that particular. Their unit commander must be very strict about it."

"Is that so?" Taika asked. She turned to look at Kaeorin with curiosity.

Kaeorin noticed the look in her eyes, but turned away, ignoring it. "Yes, it is," he said. He realized he just revealed more about himself than he wanted to. He didn't want to talk about it further. He never did. He ignored Taika to focus on his food. Eventually, she let it go.

Something brushed Kaeorin's legs, then the sharp, cutting pain of felyne claws pierced his left knee. Shocked, he jumped and shouted, attracting some attention. The whole hall laughed at him in an explosion of raucous mirth. After the moment had passed, he looked under the table. A note sat on his lap. It read, "meet me together." Kaeorin showed it to Taika.

She nodded and suggested they meet in her room after their meal. They walked in to find Night Wind curled up on her bed. He looked at them with that condescending stare (that only felynes have), as though they had arrived a week late.

"You rang, my Lord," Taika said with a sneer.

"That I did," Night Wind said without any irony or humor.

"What is it?" Kaeorin asked. He did not feel like humoring the felyne ego.

Night Wind leapt off the bed. He hopped to Kaeorin and clawed at his legs. All airs he had cast about himself vanished completely.

"Please hunters. You have to help my human. They've taken Merkel. They've held him all day. I suspect he's being harmed," Night Wind said.

"Who are you talking about?" Taika asked.

"The Guild, of course. They took him onto their ship, this morning, and he has yet to return. I've been turned away at every inquiry, sometimes rudely."

"That doesn't make sense," Kaeorin said.

"No, but do you remember what he looks like, now? They might not recognize him," Taika said.

"Oh, they do," Night Wind said. "When they came to fetch him at Musashi's training grounds, he showed them his Guild officer's badge and talked at some length. There was even a hunter with them who recognized Merkel from working at his last post."

"They brought a hunter?"

Night Wind nodded.

Kaeorin kneeled before Night Wind and looked him in the eyes. "You're sure they're actually hurting him?" he asked.

Night Wind nodded and cast his eyes down to the floor. A small, meek sound croaked in his throat.

Kaeorin stood. "Alright then. We better go get him. Go find Black Paw and Lucky. We'll plan in here. Don't be seen by the Musashi family. We need to make ensure the village leaders know nothing, in case something goes wrong."

Night Wind was so happy, he rubbed all over Kaeorin's and Taika's legs before he left.

"You sure about this?" she asked.

"Yes. If they are holding him captive or hurting him, they are doing to him what I thought he had tried to do to me. If this is true, then it's also evidence that something strange is going on, and we must know what it is. This also means that he really had done nothing intentional to hurt me, as I thought he did…back at the beginning."

Taika stood still, staring at Kaeorin for a time. Finally, she walked up to him and slapped him hard behind his right shoulder, nearly knocking him over. "Ha! Alright boss, you better have a good plan." She turned to leave. "Let me know when the felynes get back."

Kaeorin rubbed his shoulder and rolled his arm to work out the soreness. "Sure. Wait. Did you just call me boss?"

Taika chuckled on her way out the door.


End file.
